L'Oréal Heiress Increases Wealth by $24 Billion This Year, Surpassing Asia's Wealthiest

A 72-year-old French heiress to a beauty empire has amassed an additional $24 billion in wealth this year, surpassing the richest individuals in Asia.

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, related to L'Oréal’s visionary founder Eugène Schueller, has watched her financial worth escalate by 32% throughout the last eight months, reaching nearly $98 billion as of recent reports.

This increase correlates with a 17% rise in L'Oréal’s stock price, now approaching $400, boosting the value of her 35% ownership in the conglomerate that includes brands like Maybelline, Lancôme, and Redken.

Her significant financial gain this year placed her in sixth position among the year's top wealth accumulators on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, surpassing other notable figures such as Larry Page, Sergey Brin from Alphabet, Pop Mart’s Wang Ning, and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, who each saw increases between $17 billion and $21 billion since January.

Positioned at 18th on the wealth ladder, she edged out Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, with almost $97 billion, yet remained just behind Alice Walton of Walmart, holding an impressive $118 billion fortune.

Bettencourt Meyers became the custodian of her L'Oréal stake after her mother Liliane passed in 2017, and she was the inaugural woman to hit a $100 billion net worth in late 2023. Despite the stock's steep drop last year causing her wealth to descend below $75 billion by early 2025.

She stepped down from her long-held position on L'Oréal’s board in April after 28 years, making way for her son, Jean-Victor Meyers, who now serves as vice-chair.

Boom in L'Oréal Shares

A vigorous surge in L'Oréal shares occurred this year, following an auspicious report of their robust first-half performance, with revenues showing an upswing of 3% and increased sales across four major product divisions in four out of five regions.

Towards the end of July, analysts at JPMorgan adjusted their assessment of L'Oréal’s stock from "underweight" to "neutral," given the improved outlook for growth and profitability.