On Thursday, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers became the richest woman in the world as her net worth crossed $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Meyers, who hails from France, is the heiress of L’Oreal, the world’s largest cosmetics company. According to the index, she is the 12th richest person in the world. Meyers is the granddaughter of Eugène Schueller who founded L’Oreal. She, along with her family, owns more than 34 per cent stake in the company.
Shares of L’Oreal have been witnessing a bull run this year, closing at a record high on Thursday. Amid the growing demand for luxury cosmetic products post the pandemic period, shares of the company rose more than 35 per cent in 2023
Seventy-year-old Meyers inherited the company's shares from her mother Liliane Bettencourt, daughter of Schueller.
She is the chairwoman of Téthys, the holding company of the Bettencourt Meyers family, the largest shareholder of L'Oréal. The billionaire businesswoman is also the vice chairwoman of L’Oreal Group’s board of directors.
In the billionaire index, she is just ahead of India's Mukesh Ambani and behind Mexican business magnate and investor Carlos Slim. While Elon Musk, with a net worth of $232, tops the list, Meyers' compatriot, Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's largest maker of luxury goods, is the second in the billionaire's list with a fortune worth $179 billion.
