A New Era of Wealth: Francoise Bettencourt Meyers Becomes the First Woman to Reach a $100 Billion Fortune
In an unprecedented moment in history, French businesswoman and heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers has become the wealthiest woman in the world with a net worth surpassing $100 billion – a first for any woman globally. The 70-year-old L’Oréal empire heiress and avid pianist saw her fortune skyrocket to $146.7 billion this week, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, on the wings of soaring shares in the French cosmetics giant her grandfather founded over a century ago.
Elegantly understated yet commanding in her savvy leadership of one of the world’s most iconic beauty brands, Bettencourt Meyers embodies thediscrete glamour, ingenue spirit and savoir-faire on which L’Oréal has come to build its empire. Having inherited the company stake from her equally formidable mother, Liliane Bettencourt, who held the mantle of world’s richest woman until her death in 2017, Bettencourt Meyers continues the legacy of visionary women steering the global beauty behemoth into the future.
Over the past year alone, the heiress and vice chairwoman of L’Oréal has seen her net worth balloon by nearly $42 billion – a simply staggering ascent even among the rarefied ranks of the ultra-high-net-worth. While notoriously private, dividing her time between playing Chopin nocturnes, penning Greek mythology-inspired novels and overseeing L’Oréal’s strategy, she nonetheless leaves an indelible mark through the global beauty brand her family created.
This year signifies a banner moment for L’Oréal itself, with its market cap crossing €390 billion and share prices reaching all-time highs not seen since 1998. Fueled by the 35% L’Oréal stake under the Bettencourt family’s control, Ms. Bettencourt Meyers’ astronomical wealth mirrors the cosmetics powerhouse’s own meteoric rise. Adding Australian luxury skincare brand Aesop to L’Oréal’s arsenal of Lancôme, Maybelline and other labels in a $2.5 billion blockbuster acquisition last year likewise bolstered company revenues topping $61 billion annually.
Yet while she may be the first to achieve such financial heights, the L’Oréal heiress finds herself in good company among women entering the ultra-exclusive $100 billion club. In an unprecedented shift, 2023 is shaping up to be a year of quantum leaps in female wealth accumulation globally, with tech entrepreneur Julia Koch also crossing into ten-digit fortune territory weeks prior. Ms. Bettencourt Meyers likewise holds her position as the 12th wealthiest individual worldwide, ahead of magnates like Mexico’s Carlos Slim and India’s Mukesh Ambani.
Nevertheless, in the rarefied world of the 0.001%, plenty saw their net worths balloon to even more stratospheric levels over the past year. Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH luxury conglomerate and a long-time familiar face atop global rich lists, clinched the world’s richest crown yet again with savvy plays on recession-resistant luxury spending. Among Bloomberg’s top 500 billionaires, in fact, over 75% saw their piles expand in 2023, producing a staggering $2.2 trillion in newly minted wealth.
Yet whatever the relative rankings, Ms. Bettencourt Meyers’ crossing this watershed moment marks more than just a personal milestone. It equally cements the legacy of L’Oréal – the brand her grandfather Eugène Schueller founded in 1909 – as an enduring titan at the intersection of beauty and business acumen. Having pioneered everything from the iconic tagline “Because You’re Worth It” to recruiting the likes of Beyoncé and Penelope Cruz as celebrity “dream team” ambassadors, L’Oréal continues innovating today under the heiress’ direction.
So while discreet in words, Ms. Bettencourt Meyers speaks volumes through success – both L’Oréal’s and her own. In becoming the first woman to lay claim to a $100 billion fortune, she makes history while also foreshadowing the new faces of outsized wealth in the 2020s and beyond. If 2005 welcomed the world’s first female self-made billionaire in China’s Wu Yajun, then 2023 ushers in an age where female fortunes take on entirely new dimensions.
