Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is a French entrepreneur, philanthropist, author, pianist, and wealthy heiress. According to Forbes, she is the richest woman in the world. She is Liliane Bettencourt’s sole child and the granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller. L’Oréal has expanded into different cosmetics over the years.
Early Life
Liliane was the wealthiest woman in the world when she passed away at 94 years old. Upon her mother’s passing, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers received the immense L’Oréal fortune. Since Francoise was Liliane’s sole successor, according to French law, she was entitled to at least 50% of her mother’s wealth when she passed away.
In addition to her duties as L’Oréal’s CEO, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers has a distinguished academic career. She is a renowned writer and also a gifted musician. She conducted numerous studies on religions due to her erudition.
She released The Trumpets of Jericho in 2008, a remarkable work on Bible interpretation that attempted to combine Jewish and Catholic viewpoints. Critics took notice of this study, and it even won the Lauriers Verts prize in 2009. She is renowned for her charity work, particularly in the area of deafness research.
Success Story
It all began in 1904 when young chemist Eugène Schueller created his first hair colors under the brand name “Oréal.” Being a maestro of advertising, he swiftly achieved success and created new products aimed at improving the appearance of women.
In 1957, after his death, his daughter Liliane decided to surround herself with executives from outside the family, including Lindsay Owen Jones, Jean-Paul Agon, and François Dalle who were able to significantly grow the company. To avoid being the target of a takeover attempt or potential nationalization, L’Oréal decided to work with a foreign organization in 1974.
The group enters into an arrangement with Swiss Nestlé, transferring 30% of its capital in return for an interest in Nestlé. The two organizations profited together for many years through coordinating acquisitions. Liliane Bettencourt passed away in 2017 at the age of 94.
After 44 years of collaboration, the Bettencourt family left Nestlé, and the Swiss company sold the Bettencourt family a portion of its shares, reducing Nestlé’s ownership to 23% of L’Oréal’s capital. A third of the top cosmetics brand in the world is now under the authority of Françoise, the founder’s granddaughter, and the company’s largest shareholder.
Loreal is the biggest cosmetics company in the world and has expanded its operations in the industry, focusing on hair care, skin care products, sun protection, make-up, and perfume.
Controversy
Due to a lawsuit that her daughter Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers had brought against Francois-Marie Banier, an acquaintance of her mother’s, whom Francoise claimed had taken advantage of her mother, Liliane found herself at the center of a case and media frenzy in 2008. Banier adamantly refuted the accusations leveled against him.
The lawsuit claimed that throughout their acquaintance, Banier persuaded the heiress to give him gifts totaling $1.5 billion and to designate him as the only inheritor of her estate, except her ownership interest in L’Oréal.
Due to their disagreement over the case, Liliane and her daughter ceased communicating. After a legal battle for three years, Liliane’s fortune was transferred to her daughter’s care in 2011.
About Loreal
L’Oréal began as a hair-color company, but it quickly expanded into other maintenance and cosmetic goods. Currently, L’Oréal sells hundreds of different products under thousands of different brands in every area of the beauty industry, including hair color, permanents, hair style, skin and body care, cleansers, cosmetics, and fragrance.
Products from the company can be purchased through a wide range of distribution channels, including supermarkets, health/beauty shops, pharmacies, etc. Thousands of products, comprising dyes, makeup, skincare, cleansers, and perfumes, are currently produced by the corporation under more than 500 different brand names. L’Oréal has six R&D facilities across the world.
I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.