12 Of The Richest Women In The World

Before moving to list

Let’s take a look at the 12 richest women in the world. But first, here are a couple of women who have blown or otherwise wasted much of their fortune in recent years (current net worth in parentheses):

Jocelyn Wildenstein

Jocelyn Wildenstein ($500 million): Wildenstein was once awarded $2.5 billion from her divorce from Alec Wildenstein, a renowned art dealer, in addition to a $100 million allowance per year for 13 years.

She’s spent much of that on extensive plastic surgery to make herself look more like a feline than a human. It was once reported that her annual food and wine costs surpass $500,000.

Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes (“nothing"): Placed at the top of Forbes 2015 self-made female billionaires list, Holmes was the CEO of Theranos, a blood-testing company that was set to revolutionize the market

By 2016, she was the topic of the column From $4.5 Billion To Nothing after clinical testing proved many of the company’s claims false. It’s unknown what her true net worth now is. Theranos has recently shut down its last blood-testing facility.

12. Massimiliana Landini Aleotti

Massimiliana Landini Aleotti ($9.3 billion): In 2015, Aleotti inherited the pharmaceutical company Menarini from her husband, but it came with a litany of legal troubles.

Menarini had $1.6 billion seized by the government and was accused of tax evasion, though the Italian Supreme Court annulled the decision in 2013. Again, Aleotti and her children were accused in late 2013 for another $160 million, which is still pending in the courts. Her daughter Lucia now runs the company.

11. Blair Parry-Okeden

Blair Parry-Okeden ($11.7 billion): One of Australia’s richest women, Parry-Okeden is the granddaughter of James Cox, media and automotive billionaire and former presidential candidate.

After growing up in Hawaii, she now lives on a horse farm in a rural part of Australia and avoids any media interaction. In 1989 she released a children’s book called Down by the Gate.

10. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken ($12.1 billion): The daughter of Dutch brewmaster Freddy Heineken, she inherited more than 25% of the international brand just over a decade ago. She had zero business experience when she assumed control.

After bringing in a new CEO, the company has bought up many smaller breweries, spending over $30 billion on acquisitions since 2000. She is easily the richest woman in the Netherlands, and always surging up the list.

9. Iris Fontbona

Iris Fontbona ($14 billion): Widow of Andronico Luksic, a mining and beverage magnate in Chile. Fontbona has stakes in everything from beer to hotels in South America.

She donated an amount of money that a fundraiser would only dream of getting: $4.3 million to the Chilean Telethon in 2015 which benefits children with physical disabilities.

8. Abigail Johnson

Abigail Johnson ($14.3 billion): The current CEO of the second largest mutual fund in the United States, Abigail Johnson took over from her father in 2014.

Harvard-educated, Johnson joined the company in 1988 and owns a 24% stake in the company and its $1.8 trillion in assets. Her grandfather founded Fidelity in 1946 and it looks to be in capable hands going forward.

7. Gina Rinehart

Gina Rinehart ($14.9 billion): Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart has made her fortune in iron-ore mining. Though her worth has fallen with the iron prices in recent years, she still ranks among the top 10 richest women in the world.

A huge sports fan, Rinehart has donated more than $30 million to her country’s Olympic efforts, which includes the swimming, volleyball and rowing teams.

6. Susanne Klatten

Susanne Klatten ($19.7 billion): Daughter of Herbert and Johanna Quandt, owners of the majority of BMW and its holdings. Since her mother’s passing in 2015, Klatten and her brother Stefan now own almost 50% of the automobile giant.

Though the inheritance is a big part of her fortune, Klatten has been a success in many other businesses including Altana AG, a pharmaceutical company and several other German corporations.

5. Laurene Powell

Laurene Powell Jobs ($20.6 billion): The widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell Jobs doesn’t actually have most of her money because of Apple, but of Disney. Her trust is the largest individual shareholder of the company, with a 7.8% stake.

Laurene hasn’t worked to increase her fortune at all over the years, instead turning to philanthropy. She has founded Emerson Collective, College Track and other organizations to help underprivileged kids get a college education.

4. Maria Franca Fissolo

Maria Franca Fissolo ($25.1 billion): Widow of Michele Ferrero, the former CEO of the Ferrero Group, a powerhouse sweets manufacturer known for Nutella and Tic Tacs. Ferrero died in 2015, though had long since retired and passed the business on to their son Giovanni.

The founder of the company, Fissolo’s father-in-law Pietro, developed what would become Nutella during World War II when cocoa was rationed and he instead used hazelnuts that were growing in the region.

3. Jacqueline Mars

Jacqueline Mars ($28.7 billion): Heiress to the candybar company that her grandfather started in 1911. Mars joined the company in 1982 and helped to build it into an international powerhouse in many other categories.

Though she retired from the company in 2001, she remained on the board until 2016. She now lives in a farm in Virginia raising horses that have been ridden by Olympic medalists. She’s also on the board of several cultural organizations including the Washington National Opera and the Smithsonian.

2. Alice Walton

Alice Walton ($33.2 billion): The only daughter of Walmart magnate Sam Walton, Alice has taken a back seat in the department store corporation, leaving the business up to her brothers.

Instead, she has sunk hundreds of millions into collecting art work and opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2011. While she has not actively worked towards making money, she still owns a significant portion of stock in Walmart and with it a second-place finish among the richest women in the world.

1. Liliane Bettencourt

Liliane Bettencourt ($39 billion): 94-year old Liliane Bettencourt is the heiress to the L’Oreal fortune and the richest woman in history. She joined her father’s company at the age of 15 and was the board director up until 2012, when her grandson took over.