SIKH VIRSA ARTICLE ( MAY 2019)

SUPER VISA/BLUE CROSS : 403-681-8689
Bettencourt Meyers,
who lives in Paris, is the
president of her family’s
Bettencourt Schueller
Foundation. The
philanthropic foundation
encourages French
progress in science and
the arts, giving money
and support to projects in
life sciences, social
progress and traditional
crafts. The foundation
has donated to projects
including the research
of neurons,
has either been a Bettencourt or Walton.
In fact Bettencourt Meyers first
overtook Alice Walton, last year’s richest
woman, in March 2018, just days after
we finalized our annual list.
Bettencourt Meyers’ mother
Liliane Bettencourt, the
daughter of L’Oréal founder
Scheuller, spent most of her
life working at L’Oréal; late
in life she suffered from
dementia. She and
Walmart heiresses
have taken turns
holding the title of
richest women for
most of the past
three-plus decades
that Forbes has
been tracking
Madeline Berg
Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s
L’Oréal? In Francoise Bettencourt
Meyers case, it’s both. The L’Oréal heiress,
who is also the chairwoman of her family’s
holding company, is the world’s richest
woman, with a fortune of $49.3 billion.
Bettencourt Meyers, who is the 15thrichest
person in the world, leads the
women on the 2019 Forbes World’s
Billionaires list.
The granddaughter of L’Oréal’s
founder Eugène Schueller (an inventor of
hair dyes), and a member of the company’s
board since 1997, Bettencourt Meyers
debuted on the billionaires list last year
following the death of her mother, Liliane
Bettencourt, in September 2017. Liliane
had been on the list every year
since Forbes published its first World’s
Billionaires List in 1987.
Bettencourt Meyers’ fortune
increased by $7.1 billion, or 17%, since
last year thanks to stellar results at the
makeup giant, of which she and her
immediate family own a 33% stake. An
estimated 90% of her wealth is tied to
shares of the company, which recorded
its best sales growth in more than a
decade last year with total revenue
coming in at $30.6 billion. Revenue in Asia
Pacific jumped 20%, driven by China; the
region has now overtaken North America
in terms of sales.
Bettencourt Meyers, who lives in
Paris, is the president of her family’s
Bettencourt Schueller Foundation. The
philanthropic foundation encourages
French progress in science and the
arts, giving money and support to
projects in life sciences, social
progress and traditional crafts. The
foundation has donated to projects
including the research of neurons,
support for families of autistic
children and French choirs. She is
also a writer and has authored a book
on the Greek gods and another with
commentary on the Bible.
While it’s Bettencourt Meyers’
first official year as richest woman, her
name is no stranger to the spot. For the
past decade, the world’s richest woman
the wealthy. Liliane Bettencourt was
the richest woman for most of the first 14
years Forbes published the billionaires’
list. In the years following 2001, she was
overtaken some years by Walmart
founder Sam Walton’s daughter Alice
Walton and other years by Sam’s widow
Helen Walton. Bettencourt took back
the number one spot in 2006. She and
Alice Walton’s sister-in-law Christy
Walton took turns holding the title for
the remainder of the past decade.
In 2010, buoyed by strong Walmart
stock, Christy Walton, Sam Walton’s
daughter-in-law, became the richest
woman. Forbes understood at the time
that she received the bulk of her
husband John’s fortune when he died
in a plane crash in 2005. She
continued as the world’s richest
woman for the next four years, but in
2015, previously sealed documents
revealed that she had inherited just
one-sixth of his fortune. Christy and
John’s son, Lukas, received one-third
of John Walton’s estate, while the rest
went to charity. (The End)
Sikh Virsa, Calgary 61. May, 2019