Françoise Bettencourt Meyers Becomes The First Woman To Have A $100 Billion Fortune
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, Vice Chairman of French cosmetic company L”Oréal, has become the first woman to amass a $100 billion (about $310 per person in the US) fortune, with her net worth reaching $100.2 billion (about $310 per person in the US) on Thursday, December 28, on the back of a record-high performance of L”Oréal SA’s shares.
Founded by her grandfather, Eugène Schueller, L”Oréal is the largest cosmetics company in the world. Additionally, the company stocks have been enjoying their best year since 1998, cementing the Meyers” family position as the largest shareholder with a nearly 35% stake in the €241 billion ($268 billion) company.
With a $100 billion fortune, Meyers still trails another French business executive, Bernard Arnault, founder of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, who holds the second position globally with a staggering $179.4 billion. She is 71, and her vast fortune includes a significant inheritance from her late mother, Liliane Bettencourt, with whom she had a complex relationship.
Meyers has written a comprehensive study of the Bible, spanning five volumes, and a genealogy of the Greek gods. She is also a pianist and a private person.
