The world's richest woman, her wealth skyrocketing!
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of December 28th Eastern Time, Fran ç ois Betancourt Meyer, the world's wealthiest woman and heir to the French L'Oreal Group, has surpassed $100 billion in wealth, becoming the first woman in the world to exceed this number.
Her personal wealth skyrocketed mainly due to the significant increase in L'Oreal's stock price. L'Oreal's stock price has accumulated an increase of over 38% in 2023. As of the latest closing, L'Oreal's latest total market value reached $266.6 billion (approximately RMB 1900 billion).
It is reported that Betancourt Meyer, currently 70 years old, is the Vice Chairman of L'Oreal's Board of Directors. Her wealth mainly comes from inheritance. In 2017, after the death of Betancourt Meyer's mother, she inherited the shares of L'Oreal held by her mother as the only child, becoming the third generation inheritor of L'Oreal.
Her wealth has exceeded 100 billion US dollars
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of December 28th Eastern Time, Betancourt Meyer, the world's wealthiest woman and heir to the French L'Oreal Group, has a wealth of $100.2 billion (approximately RMB 710 billion), becoming the first woman in the world to have a net worth of over $100 billion.
It is reported that her personal wealth skyrocketed mainly due to the significant increase in L'Oreal's stock price. As of the latest closing, L'Oreal's stock price closed at $99.41, reaching a historic high since 1998, with a total market value of $266.6 billion (approximately RMB 1900 billion).
Due to the reduced use of cosmetics during the pandemic, L'Oreal Group's performance was hit. But with the retaliatory consumption of global consumers in recent years, the company's stock price has rapidly rebounded, with L'Oreal's cumulative increase of over 38% in 2023.
The Betancourt Meyers family holds nearly 35% of the shares in L'Oreal Group, making it the single largest shareholder.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Betancourt Meyer ranks 12th, second only to Mexican telecommunications giant Carlos Slim.
It is worth mentioning that France, where luxury brands abound, has given birth to multiple super rich families, including the Chanel Werther family, which has been in power for 150 years, and the Herm è s family, which has recently engaged in a "huge wealth struggle".
As the first woman to become a billionaire, Betancourt Meyers has also brought another milestone to France's expanding luxury retail industry.
Nevertheless, her $100 billion fortune still falls far short of the top few billionaires.
On the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Tesla founder Elon Musk remains at the top with a net asset of approximately $232 billion, leading second ranked Bernard Arnault with a cliff like advantage. He is the chairman of French luxury goods manufacturer LVMH (the parent company of Louis Vuitton) with a net asset of $179 billion.
L'Oreal's third-generation heir
According to public information, Betancourt Meyer is currently 70 years old and serves as the Vice Chairman of L'Oreal's Board of Directors. In addition, she also serves as the chairman of Tethys, the L'Oreal holding company, and the chairman of the family charity foundation. Her two sons are also members of the L'Oreal board of directors.
Her wealth mainly comes from inheritance. In 1909, her maternal grandfather Eugene Schuler founded the well-known beauty brand L'Oreal, producing and selling the hair dye he developed.
In 2017, after the death of Lillian Betancourt, the mother of Betancourt Meyer, she inherited the shares of L'Oreal held by her mother as the only child, becoming the third generation successor of L'Oreal.
But prior to this, the relationship between Betancourt and her daughter was once quite controversial.
The property dispute between the two has been a heated topic for ten years, occupying the headlines of major newspapers and magazines in France for a long time, even involving former French President Sarkozy and his cabinet members.
According to external rumors, the long-term discord between the mother and daughter is related to their personality differences, but it has not caused any waves.
The real focus of the L'Oreal family's conflict stems from a 1 billion euro property. From 2001 to 2007, Lillian Bedan repeatedly gifted photographer Banier with a total value of 1 billion euros in the form of checks, property, art, and insurance contracts. Betancourt Meyer went to court to accuse Banier of manipulating his mother to transfer a huge amount of property while her mother was unconscious.
In the end, the mother and daughter reached a settlement, thus ending the lawsuit that may have caused L'Oreal to fall into the hands of others. In the last few years of Lillian's life, the relationship between the mother and daughter eased, and a reconciliation was publicly announced. Banier was also removed from Lillian's will.
Afterwards, Betancourt Meyer resumed his low profile and no longer frequently appeared in the media, rarely discussing his family affairs with the outside world.
According to the Daily Mail, Betancourt Meyer is willing to portray himself as a traditional intellectual and rarely exposes his private life in public. Despite being a super rich, she deliberately avoids the flashy social life of her peers.
The global cosmetics hegemon
L'Oreal is the world's largest cosmetics group, with many well-known brands under its umbrella, including Lancome, Armani, YSL, HR Helena, Keyan's, Kimura Hideyoshi, Bioquan, Yuxi, Vizie, Lifespring, and Kashi.
According to the company report, in the first three quarters of 2023, L'Oreal Group's sales reached 30.57 billion euros (approximately RMB 240 billion), a year-on-year increase of 12.6%. Among them, sales in the third quarter increased by 11.1% year-on-year, reaching a new high; The third quarter recorded sales of 10.003 billion euros (approximately 78.4 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 11.1%, consistently outperforming the global beauty market.
Specifically, the sales revenue of the North Asia region increased by 1.3% year-on-year in the first three quarters, and the readjustment of tourism retail business and changes in purchasing policies have had a sustained impact on the North Asia region; The overall beauty market in mainland China is stable, with L'Oreal maintaining a stable growth rate of 7.7% year-on-year.
From the perspective of departmental performance, in the first three quarters of 2023, L'Oreal's four major business departments, including popular cosmetics, high-end cosmetics, skin science beauty, and professional hair care products, all achieved growth. Specifically:
The sales revenue of the high-end cosmetics department was 10.784 billion euros (approximately RMB 83.495 billion), a year-on-year increase of 6.1%.
The sales revenue of Volkswagen Cosmetics Department was 11.458 billion euros (approximately RMB 88.758 billion), a year-on-year increase of 14.5%.
The sales revenue of the dermatology beauty department was 4.91 billion euros (approximately RMB 38.034 billion), a year-on-year increase of 28.7%.
The sales revenue of the professional hair salon was 3.423 billion euros (approximately RMB 26.516 billion), a year-on-year increase of 8%.
The Volkswagen Cosmetics Department has achieved the best 9-month performance in the history of L'Oreal Group, with the fastest growth rate in dermatology and beauty, and the slowest growth rate in high-end cosmetics.
It is worth noting that the growth rate of the high-end cosmetics department has slowed down, allowing the Volkswagen cosmetics department to once again become the largest department of L'Oreal Group.