Richest woman in the world; Franiose Bettencourt Meyers

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the 70-year-old granddaughter of L’Oreal founder Eugène Schueller, is the richest woman in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers  born 10 July 1953 is a French businesswoman, philanthropist, writer, billionaire heiress, and the richest woman in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$88.4 billion as of 6 November 2023, according to Forbes. She is the only child, heiress of Liliane Bettencourt and granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller. 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.

BIOGRAPHY OF BETTENCOURT MEYERS

Bettencourt Meyers was raised to be a strict Catholic, she has written several Bible commentaries. She is the only daughter and heiress of Liliane Bettencourt. She married Jean-Pierre Meyers, the grandson of a rabbi murdered at Auschwitz. She converted to Judaism and they raised their children Jean-Victor and Nicolas as Jewish. Her marriage caused controversy because of her grandfather Eugène Schueller’s trial for collaboration with the Nazi government; he was L’Oreal’s founder. Bettencourt Meyers and her family still own a 33% stake in the company.

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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 evidence led to the Woerth-Bettencourt scandal. In December 2010, 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, which makes 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. As of January 2022, she is the richest woman in the world, with an estimated fortune of $94.9 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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BETTENCOURT MEYERS LIFESTYLE, CAREER AND NET WORTH

Bettencourt Meyers is worth almost $88 billion, mostly due to her stake in L’Oreal. She’s in 13th position on the Bloomberg list and has become $16 billion better off this year.

Bettencourt Meyers and her family own around 33% of L’Oreal stock. She has served on L’Oreal’s board since 1997 and is chairwoman of the family holding company. She became France’s reigning L’Oreal heiress in 2017 when her mother Liliane Bettencourt, then the world’s richest woman, died at age 94. Bettencourt Meyers also serves as the president of her family’s philanthropic foundation, which encourages French progress in the sciences and arts. Together, L’Oreal and the Bettencourt Meyers family agreed to donate $226 million to repair Notre Dame Cathedral following the April 2019 fire.

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As an adult, Bettencourt Meyers chose to focus on her career as an author. The heiress has written books on topics ranging from Greek mythology to Judaism and Catholicism. Her most recent book, a Biblical commentary entitled “Regard sur la Bible,” was published in 2008, according to its Amazon page.

ABOUT L’Oréal

The company has been in India for nearly three decades. It first set up offices here in 1994. According to the company, 90 percent of its product line is now sourced and manufactured locally at its plants in Pune and Baddi. In several product areas, it competes with companies like Procter & Gamble and Unilever.

Lancôme, Maybelline, NYX Cosmetics, Garnier, Matrix Essentials, and other brands are among the company’s global subsidiaries.

India’s cosmetics industry was worth roughly $11.16 billion in 2017, according to Goldstein Market Intelligence, and is expected to rise at a CAGR of 5.91 percent through 2030. It predicts annual retail sales of cosmetics and other personal care goods to expand by 15-20% annually, with domestic demand in India being one of the fastest-growing in the globe. It further said that total demand has increased by 60% since 2015.