L’Oréal cosmetics heiress dethroned as world’s richest woman — here’s the new queen
The daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton has assumed the title of world’s richest woman — taking the top spot from L’Oréal cosmetics heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.
Alice Walton — the co-manager of Walton Enterprises, one of two family holding companies that control about half of the discount retail giant — has a a fortune valued at $95.7 billion to rank 18th on the Bloomberg Billionaires List.
That jumped her ahead of Bettencourt Meyers, whose net worth was pegged at $89.9 billion by Bloomberg.
Walton, 74, was right behind her brother, Rob Walton, who is the 17th richest person with a net worth of $96.3 billion, according to the site.
Rob’s younger brother, Jim Walton, is 16th — with a fortune valued at $98.6 billion.
The Walton family collectively controls around 50% of the outstanding share of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer which reports an annual revenue of $648 billion for fiscal year 2024 — making them the largest and most influential shareholders.
Bettencourt Meyers, whose fortune had previously surpassed the $100 billion milestone, has seen her net worth dip by nearly $10 billion since the start of the year as the cosmetics company’s stock has fallen nearly 10% over that span.
She is the granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller, who bequeathed his stake in the French cosmetics giant to his daughter Liliane Bettencourt.
Liliane Bettencourt was the wealthiest woman in the world when she passed away at the age of 94 in September of 2017.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers inherited her mother’s stake in L’Oréal, which is the world’s largest cosmetics and beauty company with an estimated market value of $253.88 billion as of June.
An only child, Bettencourt Meyers was known to have a rocky relationship with her mother.
In 2010, Liliane Bettencourt triggered a political scandal in France after recordings by her former butler sparked probes into President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election bid and influence-peddling allegations against former Labor Minister Eric Woerth, Bloomberg reported at the time.
After her mother’s death, the 71-year-old Bettencourt Meyers took control of Téthys, the family holding company that controls a majority of L’Oréal, whose portfolio of brands includes Lancome, Aesop, La Roche Posay and Maybelline.
Her husband, Jean-Pierre Meyers, serves as chief executive of Téthys.
