The richest woman in the world, her net worth has skyrocketed!
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of December 28, the world's richest woman and the heir to the French L'Oréal Group, Françoise Bettencourt Mayer's wealth exceeded $100 billion, becoming the first woman in the world to exceed this figure.
The explosion in her personal wealth was mainly due to the large share price of L'Oréal**. L'Oréal's share price has risen by more than 38% in 2023, and as of the latest**, L'Oréal's latest total market capitalization has reached US$266.6 billion (about RMB 1.9 trillion).
It is reported that Betancourt Mayer, 70 years old, is the vice chairman of the board of directors of L'Oréal. In 2017, after the death of Betancourt Mayer's mother, she inherited her mother's shares in L'Oréal as an only child, becoming the third generation of L'Oréal.
Her fortune exceeded $100 billion.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of December 28, Eastern time, the world's richest woman and the heir of the French L'Oréal Group, Bettencourt Mayer's wealth reached 100.2 billion US dollars (about 710 billion yuan), becoming the world's first woman with a net worth of more than 100 billion US dollars.
It is reported that the surge in her personal wealth is mainly due to the sharp share price of L'Oreal**. As of the latest**, L'Oréal shares closed at 9941 US dollars, a record high since 1998, the latest total market capitalization of 266.6 billion US dollars (about 1.9 trillion yuan).
L'Oréal's performance has been hit by the fact that people are less likely to use cosmetics during the pandemic. However, with the "revenge consumption" of global consumers in recent years, the company's share price has risen rapidly, and L'Oréal's share price has risen by more than 38% in 2023.
The Bettencourt Meyers family holds almost 35% of L'Oréal, making it the single largest shareholder.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Betancourt Mayer ranks 12th, behind Carlos Slim, the "Mexican telecommunications giant".
It is worth mentioning that France, where luxury brands are gathered, has given birth to a number of super-rich families, including the Chanel Wertheimer family, which has been in power for 150 years, and the Hermes family, which has recently staged a "huge wealth war".
As the first woman to become a billionaire, Bettencourt Meyers also marked another milestone in France's expanding luxury retail sector.
Still, her $100 billion net worth is still far from the richest people at the top of the list.
Tesla founder Elon Musk tops the list with a net worth of about $232 billion, ahead of second-placed Bernard Arnault, chairman of the French luxury goods manufacturer LVMH (the parent company of Louis Vuitton), with a net worth of $179 billion.
The third generation of L'Oréal.
According to public information, Betancourt Mayer, 70, is the vice chairman of the board of directors of L'Oréal. In addition, she is Chairman of the Board of Directors of L'Oréal Holding Company Tethys and Chairman of the Family Charities**. Her two sons are also members of L'Oréal's Board of Directors.
Her wealth is mainly inherited from inheritance. In 1909, her maternal grandfather, Eugène Schulaire, founded the famous beauty brand L'Oréal, producing and selling the hair dye he developed.
In 2017, after the death of Betancourt Mayer's mother, Lilian Betancourt, she inherited her mother's shares in L'Oréal as an only child, becoming the third generation of L'Oréal.
But before that, the relationship between Betancourt's mother and daughter was quite controversial.
The property dispute between the two has been boiling for ten years, occupying the headlines of major French newspapers and magazines for a long time, and even the former French ** Sarkozy and his cabinet members have been involved.
According to outside rumors, the long-term discord between the mother and daughter is related to the difference in their personalities, but it has not caused any waves.
The real focus of the L'Oréal family's real conflict stems from the billion-euro fortune. Between 2001 and 2007, Lilian Betancourt repeatedly gifted photographer Barnier a total of 1 billion euros worth of property in the form of checks, real estate, works of art and insurance contracts. Betancourt Mayer went to court to accuse Barnier of manipulating her mother into transferring a huge fortune while she was delirious.
Eventually, the mother and daughter reached a settlement, thus putting an end to the lawsuit that threatened to put L'Oréal in the hands of someone else. In the last years of Lillian's life, the relationship between mother and daughter eased somewhat, a reconciliation was publicly announced, and Barnier was removed from Lillian's will.
Since then, Betancourt Mayer has reverted to a low profile, no longer appearing on **, and rarely talking about his family affairs to the outside world.
According to the Daily Mail, Betancourt Mayer was willing to cast himself into the image of a traditional intellectual, rarely revealing his private life in public. Despite being super-rich, she deliberately shy away from the glitzy social life of her kind.
Global cosmetics overlord.
L'Oréal is the world's largest cosmetics group, with many well-known brands such as Lancôme, Armani, YSL, HR Helena, Kiehl's, Shu Uemura, Biotherm, Yuesai, Vichy, La Roche-Posay, Kérastase and many others.
According to the company's report, in the first three quarters of 2023, L'Oréal Group's sales reached 305700 million euros (about 240 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 126%, with third-quarter sales up 111%, a new high;Sales of 1000.3 billion euros (about 78.4 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 111%, which continues to outperform the global beauty market.
Specifically, sales in North Asia increased by 1 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters3%, the realignment of the travel retail business and the change of ** policy continued to have an impact on North Asia;The beauty market in Chinese mainland was generally stable, with L'Oréal maintaining a steady growth rate of 7% year-on-year7%。
From the perspective of department performance, in the first three quarters of 2023, L'Oréal's four major business units of mass cosmetics, high-end cosmetics, scientific beauty, and professional hair products all achieved growth. Specifically:
The sales volume of the high-end cosmetics division was 1078.4 billion euros (about 834 yuan.)9.5 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 61%。
Sales of the Consumer Products Division were 1145.8 billion euros (about 887 yuan.)5.8 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 145%。
*Scientific Beauty Division sales 491 billion euros (about 380 yuan.)3.4 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 287%。
The sales of the professional hairdressing department were 342.3 billion euros (about 265 yuan.)1.6 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 8%.
Consumer Products achieved the best 9-month performance in L'Oréal's history, with the fastest growth rate in scientific beauty and the slowest growth rate in high-end cosmetics.
It is worth noting that the slowdown in the growth of the Luxury Products Division has allowed the Consumer Products Division to regain its position as the largest division of the L'Oréal Group.