Who is the richest man in the world? We bet you would know the answer to this one. It if Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. What about the richest woman in the world? This is a bit tricky. I am sure you wouldn’t have come across the list of richest women in the world that frequently.
So, to answer the question, French L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is the richest woman in the world. She has a net worth of US $49.3 billion. She has taken over the title from Walmart heiress Alice Walton who was the richest woman in the world last year.
Alice Walton is the second richest woman in the world. She is the only daughter of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. Her wealth has been received as inheritance from her father. She is currently focused on collecting art works and is not involved with Walmart operations unlike her brothers. Her wealth is estimated at $44.4 billion, making her the richest woman in United States.
Forbes has released its annual list of billionaires. There are 2153 billionaires in the world, 55 fewer than last year. Surprisingly only 11% of the top 100 billionaires are women. What’s even more surprising is that all of them have made their fortunes via inheritance from family or husband.
Kylie Jenner, 21, is the youngest woman on the list. Infact, she is the youngest self made billionaire ever. Her wealth is attributed to her cosmetics business. She has also been a TV personality and model with a huge social media following. Martha Ford, 93, is the oldest woman billionaire on the list. She is the widow of William C Ford, a grandson of Henry Ford. Overall, there are 243 women billionaires in the world right now. In 2010, there were only 91 women billionaires.
Wu Yajun of Beijing is the richest female self made billionaire on the list. She is currently ranked the 149th richest person in the world. She has made her fortune from a real estate company, which was co-founded with her then husband. After divorce, she is now chairing the company herself. There are many other women who built a self made fortune and ended up in the list of billionaires this year.
Jacqueline Mars is the third richest woman in the world. She is an American heiress who received her fortunes from Mars Candy company. She is the granddaughter of Frank C Mars, founder of Mars. She has a net worth of $23.9 billion currently. Yang Huiyan is the fourth richest woman with an estimated net worth of $22.1 billion. She owns a majority stake in the real estate company, Country Garden Holdings, largely inherited from her father.
Susanne Klatten is the fifth richest woman in the world. She holds 19.2% stake in BMW. Her net worth is $21 billion. Klatten also transformed her grandfather’s pharmaceutical company, Altana AG into a world renowned company.
The sixth richest woman is the widow of Steve Jobs, she is Laurene Powell Jobs. Her net worth is approx $19 billion. She received her fortune from Apple and Disney stakes that were inherited from Steve Jobs. She is currently involved in many philanthropic projects in education, media, social justice etc.
Abilgail Johnson is the seventh on the list. She serves as the CEO of Fidelity investments since 2014. She is also the chairman of the group since 2016. She took over from her father. Her current net worth is $15.6 billion. Iris Fontbona is the eight richest woman with a net worth of $15.4 billion. She is the widow of Andronico Luksic, who had built his wealth from mining and beverages business.
Gina Rinehart is the ninth richest woman in the world. She is also the richest Australian citizen. She built her wealth on iron ore and continues to expand robustly. She currently serves as the chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a firm founded by her father Lang Hancock. She took over this business from her father. Gina has a net worth of $15.2 billion. Kwong Siu–hing rounds of the list at number ten. She has derived her fortunes from the real estate company Sun Hung Kai Properties co-founded by Kowk Tak-Seng her late husband. She has a net worth of $15.1 billion.
