Françoise Bettencourt Meyers

French billionaire heiress (born 1953)

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (French: [fʁɑ̃swaz bɛtɑ̃kuʁ mɛjɛʁs]; born 10 July 1953) is a French entrepreneur, philanthropist, writer and billionaire. She is the only child of Liliane Bettencourt and the granddaughter of Eugène Schueller, founder of L'Oréal.²

From Wikipedia’s article on Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Jul 10, 1953.¹

Net worth $74.8B (as of Mar 11, 2022, per forbes.com).¹⁴ Richest people

About

She is the second richest woman in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$88.2 billion as of July 2025, according to Forbes and at €69.7bn according to Challenges. Her mother died in September 2017, after which her fortune tripled with her investments through her family holding company, Téthys Invest, and the high valuation of L'Oréal shares on the stock exchange.

From Wikipedia’s article on Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

L'OréalBoard member¹⁷

Career

Occupation: entrepreneur, writer, businessperson.⁷

Date not recordedFounded Fondation Bettencourt-Schueller³
Date not recordedFounded Fondation Pour l’Audition⁴
Date not recordedBoard member, L'Oréal⁵
Date not recordedDeputy chairperson, L'Oréal⁶

Personal life

BornJul 10, 1953, Neuilly-sur-Seine⁸
CitizenshipFrance⁹
ResidenceNeuilly-sur-Seine¹⁰
SpouseJean-Pierre Meyers married 1984¹¹

Raised to be Catholic, she has written several Bible commentaries. She is the only child and heir of Liliane Bettencourt. She married Jean-Pierre Meyers, business executive and grandson of a rabbi murdered at Auschwitz. She converted to Judaism and they raised their children, Jean-Victor and Nicolas, as Jewish. Her marriage caused controversy because her grandfather Eugène Schueller, L'Oreal's founder, had been prosecuted for collaboration with the Nazi government. Bettencourt Meyers and her family still own a 33 per cent stake in the company.

In 2008, she sued François-Marie Banier for taking money from her mother, and started proceedings to have her mother declared mentally incompetent. The revelations in the secret recordings that she used in evidence led to the Woerth–Bettencourt scandal. In December 2010, Bettencourt Meyers announced that she had settled out of court with both her mother and Banier.

Her mother died in September 2017 when her net worth was about $39.5 billion.

After a fire severely damaged Notre-Dame de Paris, Bettencourt Meyers and L'Oréal pledged $226 million to repair the cathedral.

From Wikipedia’s article on Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

2025Knight of the Legion of Honour¹²

Net worth over time

2019Mar 11, 2022

Mar 11, 2022$74.8B^{13 14}
Oct 5, 2019$54.1B per Bloomberg Billionaires Index^{13 15}
2019$49.3B per The World's Billionaires^{13 16}

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

1
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers on Wikidata
2
WikipediaFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers on Wikipedia
3
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: Founded Fondation Bettencourt-Schueller, on Wikidata
4
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: Founded Fondation Pour l’Audition, on Wikidata
5
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: Board member, L'Oréal, on Wikidata
6
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: Deputy chairperson, L'Oréal, on Wikidata
7
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: occupation, on Wikidata
8
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: place of birth, on Wikidata
9
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: citizenship, on Wikidata
10
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: residence, on Wikidata
11
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: spouse, on Wikidata
12
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: award, on Wikidata
13
WikidataFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers: net worth Mar 11, 2022, on Wikidata
14
Wikidatanet worth Mar 11, 2022, as reported
15
Wikidatanet worth Oct 5, 2019, as reported by Bloomberg Billionaires Index
16
Wikidatanet worth 2019, as reported by The World's Billionaires
17
WikidataL'Oréal, Board member