Françoise Bettencourt Meyers Net Worth: World’s Richest Woman’s $97 Billion Wealth

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is a French businesswoman, author, and billionaire heiress. Today, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers’s net worth is estimated at $97 billion, making her the richest woman in the world.

Bettencourt Meyers is the only heir and child of Liliane Bettencourt and the granddaughter of the L’Oreal founder Eugène Schueller. Following her mother’s death in 2017, Meyers’ net worth tripled thanks to the high valuation of the shares she inherited as well as her investments through the family’s holding company.

Even though Meyers’ net worth rose to $100 billion after she got her inheritance and a leading spot in the company – before dropping slightly – this is not all that contributes to her net worth. Meyers is also a French author and has served on L’Oreal’s board since 1997.

Let’s take a look at how Francoise Bettencourt Meyers reached the point where she was dubbed the world’s richest woman.

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers’ Net Worth Breakdown:

The notably private lifestyle of the L’Oréal heiress prevents us from finding details about how she spends her fortune or how much her assets are worth. However, we managed to gather sufficient data to provide a breakdown of her main assets that contribute to her net worth.

Bettencourt Meyers’ net worth is primarily derived from her 33% stake in the family business, though it has seen a recent decline due to fluctuations in the company’s stock value.

Beyond her corporate assets, her earnings from book publications and real estate holdings contribute to her fortune, though these figures remain undisclosed. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of her net worth, reflecting her position as the world’s richest woman.

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers Net Worth: Early Life and Education

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers was born in Neuilly-Sur-Seine in France, on July 10, 1953. Her mother Liliane Bettencourt worked at the family business, while her father André Bettencourt was a French politician, serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the French government.

As a child, Bettencourt studied at the Marymount school in Neuilly-Sur-Seine, with the Anglo-Saxon nuns of the Sacre-Coeur. She was later withdrawn from school and homeschooled since her family was very wealthy and popular at that point, and they feared that she would be kidnapped for ransom.

After she completed her primary education, Bettencourt studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. In college, she majored in Greek mythology and International Jewish-Christian relations.

Personal Life

Bettencourt Meyers is married to Jean-Pierre Meyers, grandson of a rabbi murdered at Auschwitz and a successful business executive. She met Jean Pierre-Meyers when she was 19 years old. He came from a wealthy family of French bankers and was the son of one of L’Oreal’s managers. The couple dated for several years before they married.

She had studied Judeo-Christian international relations at university and following their marriage, Bettencourt Meyers converted to Judaism. The couple has two sons, Jean-Victor and Nicolas Meyers.

The Meyers union created controversy, especially since Bettencourt Meyers’ grandfather, Eugène Schueller (L’Oreal’s founder) had been tried for collaboration with the Nazi government. Schueller was also a supporter of antisemitic, fascist groups in France, including La Cagoule, collaborating with the Nazis during France’s German occupation in World World II.

What sets Françoise Bettencourt Meyers apart from other billionaires is her introverted lifestyle. Her shy nature is nothing like that of her mother, a social butterfly who was addicted to haute couture and appeared publicly as a high society lady.

The mother-daughter relationship was hard for a long time. According to Vanity Fair, this was emphasized when Françcoise reached adolescence. At one point, the mother even went on to declare that her daughter was “heavy and slow; always one lap behind me”. She also referred to Françoise as a “cold child” in an interview reported by The New York Times.

Unlike her mother, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers has a very limited social profile. Over the years, she has found her calling in literature and classical music. She reportedly spends three hours every day playing one of the two grand pianos in her home. She once explained:

When I start the day playing a Bach-Busoni I feel better. Music is my oxygen… Well, let’s not exaggerate. I don’t spend the day practicing scales!

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers Net Worth: How She Reached the Status of the Richest Woman in the World

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers started serving the board of L’Oreal in 1997. She’s now the chairwoman of the family holding company that owns a large portion of L’Oreal. When her mother died, she started playing a much larger role in the business, managing it with the help of her two adult sons.

L’Oreal History

Eugène Schueller, a pharmacist, founded a company in 1909 that would later become L’Oreal. His daughter, Meyers’ mother Liliane, inherited his fortune and control of the company when Schueller died in 1957.

The Bettencourt family has lived a lavish lifestyle. Along with her husband, André Bettencourt, Liliane became known all across France for her glamorous parties and extravagant lifestyle.

However, their daughter and only child, Françoise, was less interested in the socialite lifestyle. The long-strained relationship between mother and daughter came to a tipping point when the latter initiated a family feud over inheritance.

Disruption in the Bettencourt Family

In 2007, a huge scandal shook the family. A month after the death of her father, Bettencourt Meyers sued François-Marie Banier, a friend of her mother’s. Banier had been Liliane’s friend for over two decades, and the daughter sued him for abus de faiblesse, or abuse of weakness.

Banier was a photographer who was four decades younger than Liliane Bettencourt and he had been receiving over $1.4 billion in gifts for years. The gifts included a Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian, and several life insurance policies that the L’Oreal heir signed for her friend after two hospital admissions.

Thus began a trial that was followed by the media for years. In it, Bettencourt Meyers fought the “questionable charmer of elderly women”, sharing that Banier had similar experiences in the past. A butler even made a recording that revealed Banier was named the sole heir to Liliane Bettencourt’s fortune.

The trial lasted a decade and even affected President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was accused of illegal financing and later acquitted. Eventually, when the trial ended, the court determined that Liliane suffered from dementia, and she was therefore placed under the control of her daughter and two grandsons.

Bainer was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison and told to pay Bettencourt Meyers $158 million in damages. This was later reversed in an appeal, and the entire story was shared in a three-part Netflix documentary titled “The Billionaire, The Butler, and The Boyfriend”.

In 2011, by the judge’s decision, Jean-Victor Meyers, Liliane’s eldest grandson, became his grandmother’s guardian. He also joined the company’s board of directors in 2012, taking over from Liliane.

Even though the trial finally came to an end and Bettencourt Meyers got a favorable outcome from the legal process, it seriously damaged her relationship with her mother. “I don’t see my daughter anymore and I don’t wish to,” shared Liliane Bettencourt in an interview in 2008, continuing to say “For me, my daughter has become something inert”.

The Bettencourt Affair

Bettencourt Meyers might have won the first battle, but that wasn’t the end of her legal problems. In the process, there were many allegations of illegal payments made by the billionaire heiress Liliane to Banier and members of the French government, who were associated with Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010.

June 2010 saw Liliane Bettencourt become embroiled in a major political scandal after details of the tape recordings made by her butler became public.

These tapes picked up conversations between Liliane and her financial adviser, indicating that the family has avoided paying taxes by keeping substantial amounts of cash in undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland.

This wasn’t all. The tapes also captured one conversation between Bettencourt and the Minister of Labour Eric Woerth at the time, and she received a tax rebate of over $30 million while the latter was budget minister.

The scandal continued to grow when Claire Thibout, Bettencourt’s former accountant, alleged that French politicians often got envelopes full of cash at the Bettencourt mansion, alleging that Mr. Woerth, the former treasurer for the Union of a Popular Movement, got over $160,000 in cash toward Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential campaign.

The scandals didn’t end there, either. Francois-Marie Banier alleged that Bettencourt Meyers, Liliane’s daughter, bribed witnesses over the Bettencourt affair in 2016. However, in 2019, this chapter of the heiress’ life ended, when an examining Paris magistrate dismissed the charges brought against her.

Stake in L’Oreal

When she was alive, Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of the founder, was one of the principal shareholders of L’Oreal Group. Upon her death, Liliane’s daughter Françoise Bettencourt Meyers inherited the 33% stake in L’Oreal, becoming one of the richest people in the world in the process.

Liliane Bettencourt passed in 2017 at age 94. Upon her death, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers became France’s reigning heiress of L’Oreal. When the company’s stock grew 35% in a single year, the new heiress became worth over $100 billion.

While the company’s stock had skyrocketed, it dropped again in June 2024. The world’s wealthiest woman is now reportedly worth $2.9 million less – still keeping her net worth at around $97 million.

Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest man, has also seen a significant drop in his net worth recently, losing $3 billion this year alone.

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers Net Worth: Investments, Books, and Assets

Known to be very reclusive, the L’Oreal heiress spends her days at home playing the piano or reading – or writing, for that matter.

“She really lives inside her own cocoon. She lives mainly within the confines of her own family,” said Tom Sancton, the author of The Bettencourt Affair.

The wealthiest woman in the world is actually the author of two books. She is also a major philanthropist and has a lot invested in real estate.

Books

To date, Bettencourt Meyers has published two books in her own name:

• A five-volume study of the Bible titled A Look at the Bible, winning the Prix des Laurers Verts
• A genealogy of Greek Gods titled The Greek Gods. Genealogy

Philanthropy

Bettencourt Meyers is the president of the family’s philanthropic foundation, the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation. The foundation encourages progress in arts and sciences.

In 2019, L’Oreal and the Bettencourt Meyers family donated $226 million to repair the Notre Dame Cathedral after the fire.

Real Estate

When her mother passed away, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers inherited several real estate assets, including a mansion located in the suburb Neuilly-Sur-Seine, where she was raised as a child. This is the same mansion where Liliane passed away.

In addition to this mansion, Bettencourt Meyers also inherited a mansion that overlooks the Brittany coast. She and her husband Jean Pierre Meyers also own a Paris property, that was searched by French police in connection to the Woerth-Bettencourt scandal in 2010.

The value of these properties hasn’t been publicly disclosed, but considering their location, size, and appearance, they are all likely worth tens of millions of dollars.

What Can We Learn from Françoise Bettencourt Meyers’ Story?

Bettencourt Meyers inherited a great fortune, but rather than simply relying on it, she actively engages in managing it. Her involvement in L’Oreal, serving on its board and later as the chairwoman, demonstrates the importance of responsible stewardship of inherited wealth.

The more impressive thing is that since she inherited this position and the stake in the business, her smart leadership and investments, have made her net worth grow almost three times higher compared to her mother’s net worth at the time of her death.

Despite her wealth, Bettencourt Meyers leads a private, reclusive life, focusing on her passions like music and literature. This contrasts with her mother’s more public persona and teaches us that wealth does not demand a public life. Meyers’ introverted nature shows that it is indeed possible to maintain privacy even when in the global spotlight.

The Bettencourt family’s history is fraught with tension, particularly the strained relationship between Françoise and her mother Liliane. The legal battles over her mother’s estate and control of the L’Oreal empire underscore the complexities that arise in any family, especially wealthy ones.

Despite these challenges, the L’Oreal heiress remained focused on preserving the family legacy and protecting its business interests, which is a testament to her strategic thinking and resilience.

The Bettencourt family has faced many legal and ethical challenges, including the famous Bettencourt affair. Françoise’s pursuit of legal action against those who took advantage of her mother reflects her commitment to integrity and justice. This is further emphasized since it involves public scrutiny and difficult personal choices.

Finally, Meyers’ education in fine arts and her scholarly work on Greek Mythology and the Bible demonstrate the value of a broad education. Her intellectual pursuits, including publishing books and studying Judeo-Christian relations, reflect how cultural and educational foundations can shape a person’s values and worldview.