Alice Walton is the world’s richest woman — and may soon be worth $100 billion

Alice Walton has overtaken Françoise Bettencourt Meyers as the world’s richest woman this year.
The Walmart and L’Oréal heiresses are worth $95 billion and $90 billion respectively, per Bloomberg.
Walton is close to passing the $100 billion mark and joining the elite club of centibillionaires.

The heiress to the Walmart fortune has leapfrogged the L’Oréal heiress to become the world’s richest woman — and could soon cross $100 billion in net worth.

Alice Walton, daughter of retail icon Sam Walton, is worth more than $95 billion for the first time, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s due to Walmart’s stock price soaring 44% to a record high this year, which has fueled a $25 billion jump in her net worth this year.

In contrast, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers — the granddaughter of Eugène Schueller, who founded the French cosmetics giant — has seen her wealth shrink by $10 billion this year to $90 billion. That reflects a 13% decline in L’Oréal shares since January.

It was a different story at the end of last year, when Bettencourt-Meyers was worth $100 billion and Walton was worth only $70 billion.

Bettencourt Meyers ranks 19th on Bloomberg’s rich list while Walton sits at 18th, just behind her two brothers, Jim ($98 billion) and Rob ($95.8 billion). The siblings each own more than 11% of Walmart, assuming their father evenly divided his shares in the company between his four children. They’ve also garnered more than $15 billion from stock sales and dividends over the years, Bloomberg estimates.

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers in 2010.

MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Bettencourt Meyers has about 35% of the world’s largest cosmetics company, which owns brands including Garnier and Maybelline. She inherited the stake from her mother, Liliane, who died in 2017.

If Walton’s wealth continues rising and breaches the $100 billion mark, she’ll join an elite club of centibillionaires that includes Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.

Walton and Bettencourt Meyers are two of several heiresses near the top of Bloomberg’s list, including Jacqueline Badger Mars and Abigail Johnson, whose grandfathers founded Mars and Fidelity respectively.