Yahoo News Who is Françoise Bettencourt Meyers? The woman who has amassed a $100bn fortune via L'Oréal
When it comes to how we like to spend our spare time, fantasising about a huge lottery win is very much up there – but for L'Oréal heiress and board member, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, that daydream of being ultra wealthy is very much a reality. So much so, that Bettencourt Meyers has just been declared the first woman to ever amass a fortune of $100 billion, making her by default the world's richest woman.
But who is Françoise Bettencourt Meyers? How did she get to be so rich, especially after her inheritance battle was such a thorny one (as documented in the Netflix docu-series The Billionaire, The Butler and the Boyfriend)?
Here's all you need to know about the world's richest woman...
Who is Françoise Bettencourt Meyers?
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is a French businesswoman and philanthropist, and the only child of Liliane (a socialite, heiress and key shareholder in L'Oréal) and André Bettencourt (a politician). Liliane's father, Eugène Schueller, founded the now-globally recognised cosmetics company, L'Oréal, in 1909, a couple of years after studying chemistry and using his skills to develop a hair colouring formula that quickly proved popular.
Who is the richest woman in the world?
Err, yep, that'd be Françoise Bettencourt Meyers. Although she officially inherited the title of 'the world's richest woman' after her mother Liliane's death back in 2017, due to a recent rise in L'Oréal share prices, as of 28 December 2023 she is now also the first woman to have accrued a staggering fortune of $100bn.
How is Françoise Bettencourt Meyers so wealthy?
Over a hundred years on from her grandfather founding L'Oréal, the Bettencourt family have kept close ties to the company, including a 33% stake in it, and also have a holding company, Téthys Invest, to help keep those papers stacking sky high.
Given that Bettencourt Meyers is an only child, she didn't have to split inheriting her mother's wealth upon her death with any siblings either, although that didn't stop artist, playwright and known con man, François-Marie Banier, from trying to get a cut too – as viewers of the gripping Netflix documentary, The Billionaire, The Butler and the Boyfriend, will know.
In the docu-series, Banier is shown befriending the elderly Liliane and receiving copious expensive gifts (including life insurance policies and paintings worth millions by the likes of Picasso and Matisse) in exchange. It later emerged that Liliane had also made outright bank transfers to Banier and at one point, the scammer even suggested that she might like to adopt him (in order for him to be added to her line of succession and usurping Bettencourt Meyers' wealth).
At this point in 2007, a month after her father's passing, Bettencourt Meyers stepped in and attempted to have her mother declared mentally unfit to manage her own finances, sparking an investigation that later saw secret tape recordings made by Liliane's butler (as he also feared she was being duped by Banier) come to light. Said tapes implied that Liliane was funding notable French politicians and deliberately evading tax.
Bettencourt Meyers and her mother had a strained and difficult relationship, but eventually they reconciled and Banier was written out of the will.
In 2015, two years before Liliane's death, Banier was also convicted of 'abuse of weakness' with regards to Liliane and referred to as a 'vampire' by a judge, who accused him of preying on Bettencourt Meyers' mother. In total, he'd received more than €414m worth of gifts and cash from Liliane.
Does Françoise Bettencourt Meyers have children?
She does indeed, two sons Jean-Victor and Nicolas, whom she shares with Jean-Pierre Meyers. Jean-Victor is also on the board of directors at L'Oréal (as of 2012).
You Might Also Like
