Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the world’s richest woman. (Source: Forbes)L’Oréal heiress Bettencourt Meyers has taken the spot from Alice Walton as the richest woman in the world. Forbes magazine released its annual billionaire list Tuesday. The granddaughter of L’Oréal’s founder Eugène Schueller, and a member of the company’s board since 1997, Bettencourt Meyers debuted on the billionaires list last year following the death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, in September 2017. Her fortune increased by $7.1 billion, or 17%, since last year thanks to stellar results at the makeup giant, of which she and her immediate family own a 33% stake.
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Bettencourt Meyers
L’Oréal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers tops the charts in Forbes’ list of richest women. Worth $49.3 billion, Meyers is the granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller. She is also the chairwoman of her family’s holding company and the 15th richest person in the world.
Meyers (65) debuted in the 2018 richest women list at the second position after Alice Walton, the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Before Meyers, her mother Liliane Bettencourt graced the richest women list every year since Forbes first published it in 1987. She died in 2017.
Alice Walton
Walton settles at the number 2 spot in this year’s Forbes richest women list. The world’s 17th richest person is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton but instead of working for Walmart like her siblings, Walton has focused on curating art, featuring works of Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and others.
With a fortune of $44 billion, Walton (69) sits on the board of the Walton Family Foundation, which disbursed $536 million in 2017, much of it to educational and environmental causes.
Jacqueline Mars
Jacqueline Mars (Source: Forbes)The third richest woman in the world, Jacqueline Mars owns one-third of Mars, the world’s largest candy-maker. Jacqueline (79) is the granddaughter of Frank Mars who founded the company in 1911.
She has worked for the company for 20 years and served on the board until 2016. Worth $23.9 billion, Jacqueline is also the world’s 33rd richest person.
Yang Huiyan
Yang Huiyan (Source: Forbes)The sixth richest person in China, Yang (37) has a fortune of $22.1 billion and is the fourth richest woman in the world. Yang owns 57% of real estate developer Country Garden Holdings. She also chairs Bright Scholar Education Holdings, a Chinese education company that went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2007. Yang’s aunt, Yang Meirong was a member of the 2017 Forbes China Rich List.
Susanne Klatten
Susanne Klatten (Source: Forbes)At $21 billion, Susanne Klatten is the fifth richest woman in the world. She owns 19.2% of automaker BMW. Her brother owns 23.7%. Klatten is an economist with an MBA degree. Klatten (56) is the sole owner and deputy chairman of Altana AG,a German chemical and pharmaceutical company, founded by her grandfather.
Her mother, Johanna, was the third wife of legendary industrialist Herbert Quandt, who guided BMW to preeminence in the luxury market.
Laurene Powell Jobs & family
Laurene Powell Jobs (Source: Forbes)Powell Jobs (55) has $20 billion from stakes in Apple and Disney inherited from her late husband Steve Jobs. In 20014, she founded Emerson Collective,a for-profit social impact firm. In 2017 she took a majority stake in Atlantic Magazine and has gone on to invest in nonprofit publications from Mother Jones to ProPublica.
With a net worth at $18.6 billion, Powell Jobs is the sixth richest woman in the world. She also features in Forbes’ billionaire list at the 54th spot.
Abigail Johnson
Abigail Johnson (Source: Forbes)With an MBA from Harvard, Abigail Johnson has served as CEO of Fidelity Investments since 2014, when she took over for her father, and as chairman since 2016.The mutual-fund giant was founded by her grandfather Edward Johnson II in 1946.
With a net worth of $15.6 billion, Johnson (57) also owns an estimated 24.5% stake of the firm. She is the 71st most richest person.
Iris Fontbona & family
Iris Fontbona (Source: Forbes)The seventh richest woman in the world, Fontbona (76) took over her husband’s mining business after he died in 2005. Andrónico Luksic had built a fortune in mining and beverages and left his businesses to Fontbona and their three sons before dying of lung cancer in 2005.
Fontbona and her children control Antofagasta Plc, which owns copper mines in Chile and trades on the London Stock Exchange. She has a net worth of $15.4 billion and features at number 74 in Forbes’ rich list.
Gina Rinehart
Gina Rinehart (Source: Forbes)Gina Rinehart, Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, an iron ore industry, is the richest citizen in Australia. She is the daughter of high profile iron-ore explorer Lang Hancock. Gina took her late father’s bankrupted estate and rebuilt it into something much larger.
At $15.2 billion, she is the eighth richest woman and the 75th richest person, according to the Forbes’ billionaire list.
Kwong Siu-hing
Kwong Siu-hing (Source: Forbes)Kwong Siu-hing (89) is the widow of Sun Hung Kai Properties co-founder Kwok Tak-seng, who died in 1990. She served as the company’s chairman from 2008 to 2011 after her eldest son was ousted in a feud with her other two sons.
She remains the biggest stockholder in Sun Hung Kai with a 26.58% stake. With a net worth of %15.1 billion, Siu-hing is the ninth richest woman and the 78th richest person.
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken & family
Charlene de Carvalho (Source: Forbes)The executive director of beer giant Heineken, Charlene (64), inherited the Heineken stake in 2002 from her late father, longtime CEO Freddy Heineken. She also has a 23% controlling stake in the company and at $14.2 billion, is the tenth richest woman. She features in Forbes’ billionaire list at 89th position.
(Source: Forbes Richest woman in the world list)
