L’Oreal heiress and businesswoman Francoise Bettencourt Meyers. File photo

Bettencourt Meyers, who is French, broke through the barrier on Thursday thanks to a rise in the share price of the cosmetics empire she inherited from her mother, who also held the title of the world’s richest woman until her death in 2017.

L’Oreal was founded in 1909 by Eugene Schueller, Bettencourt Meyers’s grandfather, to manufacture and market a hair dye he had invented, The Guardian reported.

Based in the north-western Parisian suburb of Clichy, in the region of Hauts-de-Seine, it has grown into a globe-straddling colossus valued at €241b (£209b) on the Paris stock exchange.

The famously reclusive Bettencourt Meyers, 70, and her family, remain the largest shareholders with a stake of nearly 35 per cent, the value of which has helped her wealth balloon by $28.6b this year to reach $100b, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bettencourt Meyers was far from alone in growing richer during a year in which the fortunes of billionaires generally increased significantly, even as the cost of living crisis affected countries across the world.

Of the world’s 50 richest people, 12 lost money in 2023 while the remainder watched their piles grow, albeit without adjusting for inflation.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has returned as the world's richest man, recapturing the title from French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault.

Musk earned an additional $95.4 billion through Thursday's close, boosted by the success of Tesla and SpaceX, after losing $138 billion in 2022, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

His net worth now exceeds Arnault's by more than $50 billion after LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE shares fell due to a global slowdown in demand for luxury products. As per the Index, Musk's net worth is now estimated to be $232 billion.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos added more than $70 billion to his wallet this year and is now neck-and-neck with Arnault for second place, while Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's fortune increased by more than $80 billion.

Arnault is the second richest in the world with net worth of $179 billion, followed by Bezos ($178 billion), Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ($141 billion), ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer ($131 billion), and Zuckerberg ($130 billion).

According to the Index, the collective net worth of the 500 richest persons increased by $1.5 trillion in 2023, entirely recovering from the $1.4 trillion lost the previous year.

The wealth of tech billionaires increased by 48 per cent, or $658 billion, because to the enormous buzz around artificial intelligence.

Indo-Asian News Service