Words: Tom Ward
Often when we talk about billionaires, we return to the same names: Musk. Murdoch. Zuckerberg. Etc. All of which can get a bit, well, predictable. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers’ story is different. For starters, the 70 year-old granddaughter of L’Oreal founder Eugène Schueller has just become the richest woman in the world – and the 13th richest person overall – according to this year’s Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The story of how she got there could make a movie. Nazis, contentious court cases and books on everything from Catholicism to Greek mythology all play a part. Ready? Then this is how Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, became the richest woman in the world.
Let’s start with Eugène Schueller, the pharmacist who founded the company that would become L’Oreal in 1909 after developing his own hair colour formula in Paris. Schueller saw massive success in his life, but after his death in 1957 the company continued to grow exponentially; as of 2021 employed an estimated 85,252 chemists worldwide with revenue of €38.26 billion in 2022. Today, the company owns popular brands including Maybelline, Garnier, Lancôme, and Kiehl’s.Schueller’s daughter Liliane (Bettencourt Meyers’ mother) took over upon her father’s death and became known for throwing glamourous parties with her husband, the French politician André Bettencourt.
Born in 1953, Bettencourt Meyers was reportedly more interested in learning the piano or reading, according to a Vanity Fair article (she has since written several books on Judaism, Catholicism, and the aforementioned ancient Greeks, FYI). Bettencourt Meyers didn’t get on with her mother, and it seemed the feeling was mutual. Her mother once called her “a cold child” and claimed “Françoise was heavy and slow…Always one lap behind me.”
It makes sense, perhaps, that Bettencourt Meyers wanted to keep the family business at arm’s length. She did just that, concentrating on her writing career, despite holding a 33 percent stake in the company, sitting on its board, and chairing its holding company. Then, in 2009, Bettencourt Meyers’ contentious relationship with her mother came to a head, and she took her to court, alleging that her mother had been manipulated out of €1.3bn worth of cash, art and life insurance policies by her friend, the photographer François-Marie Banier. Speaking to French press, Bettencourt Meyers said that Banier’s “objective is clear: break away my mother from our family to profit from her. I will not let it happen.”
Bettencourt, disputed this, saying she freely shared her assets with Banier, but in 2015 Bainer was convicted of “abus de faiblesse,” or “abuse of weakness.” He was handed with a two and a half year prison sentence as well as orders to repay Bettencourt €158 million. The trial was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Bettencourt. “I don’t see my daughter anymore and I don’t wish to,” she told Vanity Fair in 2008. “For me, my daughter has become something inert.”
The court also threw up long-buried associations with fascism, namely Eugene Schueller’s support of the Nazi party. Schueller had publicly praised Hitler’s “dynamism” and was investigated as a collaborator after World War II ended. Schueller was also a member of a secret society that plotted to overthrow France’s government in the 1930s. According to research by Insider, the group was linked to multiple murders and received financial backing from Schueller, who hosted meetings at L’Oréal’s HQ. Bettencourt Meyers’ father also wrote anti-Semitic diatribes for the pro-German press during the occupation.
With the family name dragged through the mud, Bettencourt Meyers had to weather her own slings and arrows, with Banier claiming in 2015 that she had bribed a witness during his trial. Bettencourt Meyers said the payment she made was part severance payment, part personal loan and definitely not a bribe. She counter-sued Bainer with both cases being resolved in a sub rosa plea deal in 2016 (as per Vanity Fair).
Liliane Henriette Charlotte Bettencourt would pass away at the age of 94 in 2017, bequeathing a one third share to her daughter. Despite their acrimonious life together, it seems she wanted the company to remain in the family. Bettencourt Meyers has been generous with her money. In 2019 she pledged millions to help repair the fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral, and since the 1980s she has presided over the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation which issues grants to support the life sciences and arts.
Bettencourt Meyers’ boost to the top of the rich list comes as L’Oréal shares enjoyed a 29 percent boost in Q1 2023 as part of a general uptick in French luxury companies with the overall wealth of French companies jumping by $93bn (£76bn) this year, according to Bloomberg. Bettencourt Meyers may have some way to go to rival the wealth of the richest woman who ever lived – China’s Empress Wu who was reportedly worth around $16tn (yes, trillion) before her death in 705 AD – but she’s certainly giving the old boy’s club a run for their money. Long may it continue.
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