L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, who holds the position of the richest woman in the world, has become the first woman to hold a $100 billion fortune, according to a ranking of the richest people in the world. Bettencourt Meyers was listed as the 12th richest person, ahead of Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata.
This came as L'Oreal, the empire of beauty products and cosmetics established by her grandfather, was on track for its best stock market performance in decades as the company shares rose to a record high on Thursday, BBC reported.
The 70-year-old Bettencourt Meyers' net worth crossed $100 billion on a prominent billionaires index, making her the 12th richest woman in the world. She is still behind another French billionaire Bernard Arnault, the owner of one of the world's biggest luxury group LVMH, who is second on the list with a net worth of $179 billion.
The top spot was occupied by Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X and automotive company Tesla, with a net worth of $232 billion. India's richest man Mukesh Ambani's net worth was recorded at $97.1 billion, while that of Gautam Adani was $83.2 billion.
Bettencourt Meyers serves as the vice-chairperson of the L'Oreal board and she and her family are the single biggest shareholders of L'Oréal with a stake of around 35%. She became the heiress of the company after her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, died in 2017.
Liliane was regularly named as France's richest person and maintained close ties with French leaders and the media spotlight. She was embroiled in a public fight with her daughter, who accused a photographer and socialite of taking advantage of her mother's mental problems.
"My daughter could have waited patiently for my death instead of doing all she can to precipitate it," she said. A French court ruled in 2011 that Liliane suffered from some form of dementia and awarded Francoise control over her wealth and income. Bettencourt Meyers reportedly favours privacy over attending social events frequented by many of the world's wealthy.
Bettencourt Meyers is the chairwoman of the family’s holding company, Tethys. She is known to play the piano for several hours a day and has written two books - a five-volume study of the Bible and a genealogy of the Greek gods.
L'Oreal is the world's largest cosmetics company and owns a wide portfolio of brands like Lancome and Maybelline. It had more than $42 billion in sales in 2022, CNN reported citing company reports. It also bought Australian brand Aesop earlier this year in a $2.5 billion deal, the biggest brand acquisition by the company.
ALSO READ | Biden administration lambasts world's richest man Elon Musk for endorsing antisemitism on X amid war
