Women make up a small but growing part of Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires. Together, they are worth $1.8 trillion, $240 billion more than last year.
For the fourth consecutive year, the richest woman in the world is L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers. Her fortune has jumped $19 billion in the past 12 months to a net worth of $99.5 billion, making her the highest-earning woman of any woman on the 2024 list, but she’s already the first woman to hit the $100 billion club. .
For two decades, neither Bettencourt nor Walton’s heir was ranked No. 1 among all women. Bettencourt Meyers took the top spot for the first time in 2019, two years after the death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, who held the title for six years from 2006 to 2017. Artist Alice Walton, the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, is the second richest woman in the world, the richest woman in 2018 and 2020. Her daughter-in-law, Kristi Walton, succeeded her for seven years after her husband, John Walton, died in a helicopter crash; His fortune was later divided between his son Lucas.
Nine of the 10 richest women inherited their wealth from their fathers, husbands or, in one case, mothers. MacKenzie Scott is the only person in the top ten who made a fortune through divorce. Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, is worth $ 35.6 billion, up $ 11.2 billion from last year, although she worked up a storm to give it away. The billionaire philanthropist recently donated $640 million to more than 300 charities, bringing his lifetime philanthropy to $17.3 billion. If she was not so generous, she would be $69 billion, and not fifth on the list as the third richest woman on the list.
Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, the founder of one of the largest shipping companies in the world, is again the richest self-made woman on the Forbes list. She is also the seventh richest woman in the list and the only woman among the top 10 richest self-made women. 100 women in this year’s list are self-made, meaning they founded or established a company or built their own wealth, as opposed to inheriting it. 200 other women inherited their wealth, and 69 women worked to expand the successful business they inherited.
Abigail Johnson, the richest woman who inherited and grew her company, is the tenth richest woman in the world this year, up from 11th richest last year. The CEO of Fidelity Investments took over from his father in 2014 and helped drive revenue to a record $28.2 billion by 2023.
There are 46 new women on the 2024 list, some due to stock options and some through inheritance. The new richest women are two sisters, Märta Schörling Andreen and Sofia Högberg Schörling from Sweden. Her father, billionaire investor Melker Schörling, died in December 2023, leaving his fortune to his daughters, aged 39 and 45. Each is worth $5.6 billion.
Two other tech startups: Michelle Zatlin, founder of cybersecurity firm Cloudflare, and Lisa Su, head of semiconductor firm Advanced Micro Devices; Both women have benefited from the increase in shares in their respective companies over the past year.
Taylor Swift, the most prominent new pop star, earned an estimated $190 million after taxes from her Eras Tour, helping her become the first billionaire musician to file for bankruptcy with only performances, records and a lucrative half-billion dollar music catalog. He became a billionaire in October.
