Despite the gain,Bettencourt Meyers’ fortune is still significantly less than that of French compatriot Bernard Arnault,founder of luxury goods purveyor LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton,who is second in the global ranking with $US179 billion.
France’s growing domination of luxury retail has spawned several other ultra-rich families,including the clan behind Hermes International,who have amassed Europe’s largest family fortune,and the Wertheimer brothers,who own Chanel.
The reclusive Bettencourt Meyers,70,is vice-chair of the board of L’Oreal,a globe-spanning €241 billion ($390 billion) company in which she and her family are the single biggest shareholders with a stake of nearly 35 per cent. Her sons,Jean-Victor Meyers and Nicolas Meyers,are also directors. The firm was founded in 1909 by Bettencourt Meyers’ chemist grandfather,Eugene Schueller,to produce and sell a hair dye he had developed. It has been run by executives from outside the family for decades.
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Bettencourt Meyers keeps her life private,shunning the glitzy social life sought by many of the world’s wealthy. She has written two books – a five-volume study of the Bible and a genealogy of the Greek gods – and is known for playing piano for hours every day.
As an only child,Bettencourt Meyers came into her wealth following the 2017 death of her mother,Liliane Bettencourt,with whom she had an at times contentious relationship. A legal battle in the aughts grew from a family feud to a political scandal that centred on whether the elderly mother was fit to manage the family’s wealth.
Last month,Netflix came out with a three-part documentary relating the saga,L’Affaire Bettencourt,which featured a former French president and secret recordings made by a butler.