Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the heir to the L’Oréal beauty empire has become the first woman in the world to be worth over $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bettencourt Meyers’ fortune crossed the $100 billion mark thanks to a rise in L’Oréal S.A. stock, which hit a record high on Thursday. On Thursday, her net worth reached $100.1 billion, per Bloomberg.
The 70-year-old and her family hold a stake of about 35% in L’Oréal, which makes them the largest shareholders in the company founded by her grandfather in 1909.
Bettencourt Meyers — who is also the world’s richest woman — inherited tens of billions of dollars, as well as assets such as mansions when her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, died in 2017. The two had been embroiled in a family feud over her inheritance.
Known to be reclusive, Bettencourt Meyers spends her days at home reading or playing the piano, Vanity Fair reported in 2017. She is also the author of two books: a five-volume study of the Bible and a genealogy of Greek gods.
The world’s second-richest woman currently is American Alice Walton, an heir to another retail empire: Walmart. Walton’s fortune is worth $70 billion.
Even though Bettencourt Meyers’ fortune has reached the $100 billion milestone, making her the 12th richest person in the world, her wealth is still behind fellow French retail mogul Bernard Arnault.
Arnault, the founder of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is the world’s second-richest person — after Elon Musk — with a net worth of $179 billion.
L’Oréal shares closed 0.6% higher at 451.30 euros on Thursday. The stock is up 35% year-to-date.
