Liliane Henriette Charlotte Bettencourt (née Schueller; French pronunciation: [lil.jan be.tɑ̃.kuːʁ]; born 21 October 1922), is a French heiress, socialite and businesswoman. She is one of the principal shareholders of L’Oréal and according to Forbes, she is the richest woman in the world, making her the eleventh richest person in the world with a net worth of US$36.1 billion, as of the 2016 version of “The World’s Billionaires”. With a peak net worth of more than 40 billion, she is the richest woman in history.
Biography
Bettencourt was born in Paris, the only child of Louise Madeleine Berthe (née Doncieux) and Eugène Schueller, the founder of L’Oréal, one of the world’s largest cosmetics and beauty companies. Her mother died when Liliane was 5 years old, and she formed a close bond with her father, who later married Liliane’s British governess. At the age of 15 she joined her father’s company as an apprentice, mixing cosmetics and labelling bottles of shampoo.
In 1950 she married French politician André Bettencourt, who served as a cabinet minister in French governments of the 1960s and 1970s and rose to become deputy chairman of L’Oréal. Bettencourt had been a member of La Cagoule, a violent French fascist group that Liliane’s father had funded and supported in the 1930s and which members were arrested in 1937. After the war, her husband, like other members of La Cagoule, was given refuge at L’Oréal despite his politically inconvenient past. Eventually the Bettencourts settled in an Art Moderne mansion built in 1951 on rue de Delabordère in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. They had one daughter, Françoise, who was born on 10 July 1953.
In 1957 Bettencourt inherited the L’Oréal fortune when her father died, becoming the principal shareholder of L’Oréal. In 1963 the company went public, although Bettencourt continued to own a majority stake. In 1974, in fear that the company would get nationalised after the French elections, she exchanged almost half of her stake for a three percent (3%) stake in Nestlé S.A.
As of 31 December 2012 Bettencourt owned 185,661,879 (30.5%) of the outstanding shares of L’Oréal, of which 76,441,389 (12.56%) shares are effectively held in trust (for her daughter). The remainder is owned as follows: 178,381,021 (29.78%) shares owned by Nestlé, 229,933,941 (37.76%) shares are publicly held, and the remainder are held as treasury stock or in the company savings plan. The Bettencourt family and Nestle act in concert pursuant to a shareholders’ agreement. Bettencourt ended her Board Director tenure on February 13, 2012 and her grandson, Jean-Victor, was appointed as Board Director. Bettencourt’s daughter and her daughter’s husband (Jean-Pierre Meyers) are also members of the board of directors.
Bettencourt has generally shunned media attention and grants few interviews. Since 2007 she has faced intense media scrutiny and publicity over her relationship with François-Marie Banier, the estrangement with her daughter Françoise and her alleged funding of conservative French politicians, including former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. In August 2012 she sold her private island, D’Arros Island to a Seychelles-registered conservation business linked to the Swiss Save our Seas Foundation. The island was sold for £60 million.
Liliane Bettencourt net worth: Liliane Bettencourt was a Paris-born businesswoman, philanthropist, heiress, and socialite who had a net worth of $46 billion dollars at the time of her death. At the time of her death, her $46 billion fortune made her the richest woman on the planet, the richest person in France and the 11th richest in the world person overall. After adjusting for inflation, Liliane was the 6th richest woman in history. The five women richer than Liliane are all from centuries ago. So she really was the richest woman in modern history. At the end of her life, Liliane owned 185 million shares of L’Oreal, roughly 33% of the company. Liliane also owned 30% of Nestle. She was the largest individual shareholder of both companies. Liliane Bettencourt co-founded the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation with her husband and daughter to support scientific research, humanitarian projects, and the arts.
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