Somto Bisina
Ever wondered how the richest woman in the world carries on? There are 2,668 billionaires on this year’s Forbes list, among whom there are only 327 women. The 327 women, including those who share their fortune with their spouse, child, or sibling, are worth a collective $1.56 trillion.
Suffice it to say that 226 of these 327 billionaire women, including world’s three richest – L’Oréal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, Walmart heiress Alice Walton, and Julia Koch – inherited their wealth. Kotch in particular inherited stake in Koch Industries when her husband, David Koch, died in 2019.
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101 women on the 2022 World’s Billionaires list are self-made, meaning they founded or co-founded companies or established their fortunes by themselves.
However, we would solely focus on Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the richest woman,
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Francoise Bettencourt Meyers
Source of wealth: L’Oréal
Net worth: $74.8 billion
Country: France
L’Oréal and Meyers first appeared on the World’s Billionaires List in 2018, following the death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, the then world’s wealthiest woman. She’s also the granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller.
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Her mother died in September 2017, after which her fortune tripled with her investments through her family holding company, Tethys Invest, and the high valuation of L’Oréal shares on the stock exchange. This is her second consecutive year holding the title.
Early Life and Childhood of the Richest Woman in The World
Meyers was raised in a strict catholic family, this upbringing aided her in writing several Bible commentaries. She is the only daughter and heiress of Liliane Bettencourt.
Meyers and her family had always been in the news for one controversy or the other. In 2008, she sued François-Marie Banier for taking money from her mother, and she started proceedings to have her mother declared mentally incompetent.
The revelations in the secret recordings that she used in the evidence led to the Woerth-Bettencourt scandal. In December 2010, however, it was reported that Bettencourt Meyers announced that she had settled out of court with both her mother and Banier.
Her mother died in September 2017 when her net worth was about $39.5 billion, making Bettencourt Meyers among the top 20 richest people in the world.
After a fire severely damaged Notre Dame de Paris, Bettencourt Meyers and L’Oréal pledged $226 million to repair the cathedral.
Personal Life
She married Jean-Pierre Meyers, the grandson of a rabbi murdered at Auschwitz, and they raised their children Jean-Victor and Nicolas as Jewish. Her marriage caused another controversy because of her grandfather Eugène Schueller’s trial for collaboration with the Nazi government.
As of January 2022, she is the richest woman in the world, with an estimated fortune of $74.8 billion.
