Featured Image Credit: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images for L'Oreal Foundation
The second wealthiest woman in the world has an insane net-worth of $95 billion and most people don’t even know who she is.
The 72 year old is the 20th richest person on the planet, according to the Forbes real-time billionaires list but you’ve probably never heard her name before.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers tends to keep a low profile despite being up there with the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in terms of wealth.
So, who actually is she? And how did she get so rich?
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The French billionaire is the daughter André and Liliane Bettencourt, and Meyers accumulated her fortune from inheritance received from her mother, who was the heiress to her father’s empire.
Meyers is married to Jean-Pierre Meyers, who is a businessman who is believed to be grandson of a murdered rabbi, who was killed at Auschwitz during World War Two.
After being raised throughout her childhood as a Catholic, Meyers later converted to Judaism and raised her two children - Jean-Victor and Nicolas - as Jewish.
Her wealth actually came from Eugène Schueller, a French chemist and founder of L’Oréal. He only had one child, Liliane, and so all his wealth was passed down to her upon his death in 1957.
Meyers’ riches primarily comes from her inherited stake in L’Oréal - her mother was one of the principal shareholders in L’Oréal until her death in 2017. Meyers currently has a 33% stake of the business, which makes her the firm’s largest shareholder.
She sits on L’Oréal board of directors and serves as chairwoman of the family holding company, ensuring her ongoing influence in the business.
In addition to her inheritance and board involvement, L’Oréal’s continued growth - especially in global beauty markets and e-commerce - has significantly boosted her fortune over time.
At the time of writing, Forbes’ real-time billionaires list currently has her wealth at a staggering $95.3 billion.
The figure tends to fluctuate frequently due to various factors such as the stock price of L’Oréal, exchange rates and the economy.
Bloomberg’s billionaire list currently values her at $95.9 billion and lists her as the 19th richest person on Earth - although notably, it has removed its founder and owner Michael Bloomberg from the list.
By comparison, Bloomberg is valued by Forbes’ at $109.4 billion and is ranked 17th.
Despite not being a household name, Meyers is certainly influential in her industry.
