Francoise Bettencourt Meyers
became the first woman to amass a $100 billion fortune, marking another milestone for the heiress and for France's expanding fashion and
cosmetics industries
.
Her wealth jumped to $100.1 billion on Thursday. The milestone came as shares of
L'Oreal
- the beauty products empire founded by her grandfather - rose to a record high, with the stock set for its best year since 1998.
Meyers is the 12th-richest person in the world, just behind Mexico's Carlos Slim.
Despite the gain, Bettencourt Meyers' fortune is still significantly less than that of French compatriot Bernard Arnault - founder of luxury goods purveyor LVMH - who is second in the global ranking with $179 billion. France's growing domination of luxury retail has spawned several other ultra-rich families, including the clan behind Hermes International, who have amassed Europe's largest family fortune, and the Wertheimer brothers who own Chanel.
The reclusive Bettencourt Meyers, 70, is vice-chair of the board of L'Oreal, a globe-spanning $268-billion company in which she and her family are the single biggest shareholders with a stake of nearly 35%. Her sons, Jean-Victor Meyers and Nicolas Meyers, are also directors. Run by executives from outside the family for decades, the firm was founded in 1909 by Bettencourt Meyers' chemist grandfather, Eugene Schueller, to produce and sell a hair dye.
Bettencourt Meyers keeps her life private, shunning the glitzy social life sought by many of the world's wealthy. She has written two books - a five-volume study of the Bible and a genealogy of the Greek gods - and is known for playing piano for hours every day. As an only child, Bettencourt Meyers came into her wealth following the 2017 death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, with whom she had an at times contentious relationship.
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