Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the 70-year-old granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller, is the world’s second-richest woman, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
However, the company’s stock has dipped almost 11% this year, pushing Bettencourt Meyers’ wealth down by close to $9.7 billion this year to about $90 billion.
She is now in 19th spot on the Bloomberg list — one behind Alice Walton. A surge in Walmart stock this year has increased Walton’s wealth by about $25 billion, leaving her worth almost $96 billion.
Here’s a look at Bettencourt Meyers’ life and wealth.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, 70, is the granddaughter of L’Oreal founder Eugène Schueller.
Liliane Bettencourt and her daughter Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.
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Their mother-daughter relationship was strained ever since Bettencourt Meyers was a teenager.
“Françoise was heavy and slow,” Bettencourt once said, per Vanity Fair. “Always one lap behind me.”
Bettencourt also called Françoise “a cold child” in an interview with a French newspaper, per The New York Times.
As an adult, Bettencourt Meyers chose to focus on her career as an author.
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Bettencourt Meyers has a 35% stake in L’Oréal. She has been a director since 1997 and vice chair of the board since 2020, according to the company.
Her relationship with her mother came to a tipping point when Bettencourt Meyers initiated a decade-long family feud over her inheritance.
Liliane Bettencourt and Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers.
Thibault Camus/AP
“I don’t see my daughter anymore and I don’t wish to,” Bettencourt said in a 2008 interview, according to Vanity Fair. “For me, my daughter has become something inert.”
The lawsuit also drudged up long-forgotten family secrets, including speculation that Bettencourt Meyer’s father André and her grandfather were Nazi sympathizers.
Bettencourt Meyers denied allegations of bribing a witness.
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The investigation stemmed from a criminal complaint filed by Banier in 2015, according to Vanity Fair. At the time, Bettencourt Meyers said the payment she made to the witness was part severance payment and part personal loan, not a bribe for the testimony.
That suit and Bettencourt Meyers’ countersuit against Banier were resolved in a secret plea deal in 2016, Vanity Fair reported.
Bettencourt Meyers inherited tens of billions of dollars when her mother died in 2017, and valuable assets like this mansion in the suburbs of Paris …
Bettencourt Meyers inherited multiple properties when her mother died.
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The mansion was one of Bettencourt’s childhood homes, The New York Times reported.
Bettencourt Meyers lived in this nearby home.
Jean-Victor Meyers, Nicolas Meyers, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and her husband Jean-Pierre Meyers in 2019.
Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images for Fondation L’Oreal
Jean-Pierre Meyers is CEO of the Bettencourt Meyers family’s holding company, Téthys.
The couple has two adult sons, Jean-Victor and Nicolas, both of whom are on L’Oreal’s board of directors along with Bettencourt Meyers.
In 2023, Bettencourt Meyers became the first woman to reach a $100 billion fortune.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller.
Bettencourt Meyers is also the president of the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, the charity she and her parents founded in 1987. It issues grants to support research in the life sciences and arts projects, according to its website.
In 2023, it gave 68.6 million euros, or roughly $74 million, in grants.
