Liliane Bettencourt was a woman who lived a life many men and women can only dream of. She was a socialite and heiress, as well as a major shareholder of L’Oréal. At the time of her death, Liliane was the richest woman in the world, and since she was no more, this recognition was passed on to her daughter, who inherited everything she owned.
As they say, Rome was not built in a day, Applying this axiom to our subject in this article, we can all agree that it was not the center of attraction overnight during its stay. Find out below how Bettencourt went from being an apprentice in her father’s company to the richest woman to walk our planet.
Who was Liliane Bettencourt from L’Oréal?
Liliane Bettencourt of L’Oréal was a French businesswoman born on October 21, 1922 in Paris, France. She was the only child of pianist Louise Madeleine Berthe (née Doncieux) and chemist Eugène Schueller who, after her birth, named her Liliane Henriette Charlotte Schueller. Tragedy struck the Schuellers, however, when Louise died when her daughter was just 5 years old.
Following her loss, little Liliane was then raised by her father whom she grew to be closely related to. For her education, her father had recourse to the services of a British governess who supervised her until her adolescence. At age 15, Charlotte began working as an apprentice in her father’s cosmetics company, L’Oréal. Her role was to mix cosmetic ingredients and label their product bottles and shampoo. At the time, business was so good for L’Oréal, which supplied its products to 17 countries around the world.
Over the years, Liliane Bettencourt continued to learn the secrets and business models of the cosmetics industry much to the delight of her father. She rose through the ranks to become vice-president of L’Oréal in the early 1950s, but sadly, in 1957, her father took to the task. Henriette then inherited the business. In her place, she piloted the cosmetics company to greater heights; embarked on an expansion strategy which saw it acquire French luxury perfume and cosmetics house – Lancôme, US cosmetics company Helena Rubinstein and luxury fashion retailer Ralph Lauren.
L’Oréal became bigger than ever. Liliane Bettencourt still held the majority of shares in the company. In 1967, the cosmetics company went public but its ownership remained under Bettencourt. However, fearing that she would lose her business as part of the French government’s nationalization policy after her election, Liliane decided to exchange half of the company’s shares for a 3% stake in the Swiss multinational Nestlé SA.
She became a member of the board of directors of In 1995, he performed the same functions until the appointment of her grandson, Jean-Victor, on February 13, 2012. Her daughter (Françoise Bettencourt Meyers) and her husband (Jean -Pierre Meyers) all sit on the L’Oréal Board of Directors.
Her husband, daughter and grandsons
Looking at her family life, LilianeHenriette Charlotte Schueller married French politician Andre Bettencourt in the 1950s, after which she started dating Liliane Bettencourt. The couple became in 1953 the parents of a little girl, Françoise Bettencourt, then Françoise Bettencourt Meyers. Lilliane’s husband, a member of the French government as a government minister from the 1960s to the 1970s, joined his manufacturer in 2007.
Their daughter grew up and all the time activelyparticipated in the affairs of L’Oreal. She married Jean-Pierre Meyers and they had two sons – Jean-Victor Meyers and the youngest Nicolas Meyers who is 2 years younger.
What was his net worth before death?
While there, Liliane Bettencourt was the richest woman and the 14th richest person in the world. According to a report by Forbes, she left a net worth of $44.7 billion for her daughter when she died. She breathed her last on September 21, 2017 in her mansion west of Paris. His funeral then took place at the Saint-Pierre church in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Liliane’s daughter described her mother’s passing as “peaceful”.
It should be remembered that before her disappearanceFor her glory, the billionaire businesswoman attracted a lot of negative attention from the media after her relationship with the photographer François-Marie Banier, who was much younger than her. Predictably, this case separated her from her daughter. Liliane and François-Marie first met in 1987 after François was hired to photograph her for the French magazine Egoïste.
They then began their friendship which saw Francois benefiting heavily from the businesswoman. He would have received up to 1.3 billion euros in gifts from him and would have even been named chief benefactor. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers angry and just a month after the death of her father in 2007, she filed a complaint against François-Marie, claiming that the photographer was exploiting her mother’s psychological weakness for personal gain. A lengthy legal process followed, but on December 6, 2010, billionaire businesswoman Liliane had parted ways with the photographer, reconciled with her daughter, and then struck Francois-Marie’s name off of one of its benefactors.