Recently, the richest woman in the world has changed. Alice Walton, co-manager of Walton Enterprises and a prominent figure in Walmart’s success, has overtaken Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the L’Oréal heiress, to become the world’s richest woman. According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires List, Walton’s fortune has surged to an US$96.6 billion. This surpasses Bettencourt Meyers, whose net worth has declined to US$90.5 billion following a drop in L’Oréal’s stock value.
At 74 years old, Walton now ranks 18th among the world’s billionaires, just behind her brothers Rob and Jim Walton, who hold net worths of US$96.3 billion and US$98.6 billion, respectively. The Walton family collectively owns nearly half of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, which reported annual revenue of US$648 billion in fiscal 2024.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the granddaughter of L’Oréal’s founder Eugène Schueller, inherited her wealth and manages the family’s holding company, Téthys. Her net worth has dropped by nearly US$10 billion this year, driven by a 10% decline in L’Oréal’s stock value.
According to L’Oreal latest financial report, L’Oreal shows strong performance for the first half of this year, with sales reaching 22.12 billion euros, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 7.3% and a reported growth of 7.5%. Regionally, L’Oréal noted that operating conditions in the Chinese ecosystem remain challenging. In the first half of 2024, North Asia achieved sales of 5.475 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of -1.7% and a reported decrease of -3.1%. In mainland China, the beauty market performed weakly in the second quarter, with consumer confidence remaining low, exacerbating the weak market base.
