L’Oréal beauty giant heiress has done something no other woman in the world could accomplish—she became the first woman to amass a $100 billion fortune. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, granddaughter of the L’Oréal founder, who also owns illustrious brands like Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, and Lancôme, hit the $100 billion milestone after shares in the firm, founded by her grandfather Eugène Schueller in 1909, hit a record high.
Bettencourt grabbed the no. 12 spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after gaining a staggering $836 million as of Wednesday’s closing bell to peak at $100.2 billion, ranking her in the vicinity of billionaires like Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg. The published author (who has written books on Greek mythology and the Bible), who owns a 33 percent stake in L’Oréal, the world’s largest cosmetics company, inherited it following the 2017 death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, Bloomberg reported.
Bettencourt Meyers, a billionaire by numbers and a pianist at heart,, serves as the chair of her family’s holding company, Téthys, which holds the L’Oréal stake. The 70-year-old is actively involved in the family’s philanthropic foundation, the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, which supports French endeavors in the sciences and arts.
Unlike other billionaires who love the social scene (her mother Liliane was an enthusiastic socialite), Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is quite the recluse, who prefers the company of her two grand pianos, a Steinway, and a Yamaha, or indulging in books—hobbies that she picked up as a child.
Bettencourt Meyers shared, “I have always loved moments shared between friends, in small groups, that’s how the best friendship is created. I still don’t like big dinners, I prefer cozy brunches.” She may not enjoy the big bashes, but an entry into the $100 billion club surely calls for a celebration. Alice Walton, the daughter of the founder of American retail giant Walmart, is the second-richest woman in the world with a net worth of $70.1 billion.
