Gone are the days when women were offered to
men for marriage along with a dowry to convince
the man to take a bride. Well, at least in most
parts of the world. For decades now, women have
been rising through the ranks of corporations,
starting their own very successful businesses, and
going on to establish themselves as forces to be
reckoned with in their family's fortunes. Of course
a portion of the billionaire women are heiresses to
a vast family fortune.
Regardless of how they came into their wealth, the
6 Richest Women in the world are billionaires
many times over.
The death of L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt in
September 2017 caused a shake up in the
hierarchy of the world's wealthiest women.
Here are the top 6 and how they each earned their
spot.
Michael Cohen/Getty Images
#5. (tie) Laurene Powell Jobs – net worth $19
billion
Laurene Powell Jobs is Steve Jobs' widow and the
largest individual shareholder in The Walt Disney
Company. She is the head of the Laurene Powell
Jobs Trust and oversees the 130 million shares
she owns in Disney, which were left to her by her
late husband. However, Powell Jobs isn't just a
wealthy woman who inherited her husband's
fortune. She has a B.A. from the University of
Pennsylvania, a B.S. in Economics from the
Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania,
and an MBA from Stanford. Before business
school, Powell Jobs worked for Merrill Lynch Asset
Management and spent three years at Goldman
Sachs as a fixed-income trading strategist. She co-
founded Terravera, a natural foods company that
sold to retailers throughout Northern California. She
is the founder of Emerson Collective, which works
on advancing education and immigration reform
policies, social justice, and environmental
conservation. She is also co-founder and President
of the Board of College Track, which prepares
disadvantaged high school students for college.
#5. (tie) Susanne Flatten – net worth $19 billion
Susanne Klatten is the richest woman in Germany.
Susanne, her mother Johanna, and brother Stefan
own nearly 50% of BMW. But Susanne is not your
ordinary heiress. She is an educated economist,
who also controls chemical manufacturer Altana,
and has worked since she got out of college. She
worked for the advertising agency Young &
Rubicam in Frankfurt for two years in the early
80s. She had a number of hands-on internships in
her family's business empire. She gained further
business experience in London with Dresdner Bank,
the Munich branch of management consultants
McKinsey as well as the bank Reuschel & Co. In
many cases of her employment, whether in a
family owned company or not, she worked under
the assumed name Susanne Kant so as not to
receive special treatment and be approached and
treated on her own terms, not those dictated by
her inherited wealth.
#4. Maria Franca Fissolo – net worth $23 billion
Maria Franca Fissolo is the widow of Michele
Ferrero who owned chocolate manufacturer Ferraro
SpA, which is Europe's second-largest
confectionery company. Ferrero passed away in
February 2015. Ferrero SpA includes brands such
as Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Mon Cheri, Kinder
Chocolate, Kinder Eggs, and Tic Tacs. Maria and
Michele had two sons together named Pietro and
Giovanni who were made co-CEOs in 1987
#3. Jacqueline Mars – net worth $28 billion
Jacqueline Mars is the daughter of Forrest Mars,
Sr., and granddaughter of Frank C. Mars, founders
of the world's largest candy company Mars,
Incorporated. Mars is the 15th-richest American
and fourth richest woman in the world. Jacqueline
and her two brothers inherited the candy empire
when their father died. More than 400 million
M&Ms are made by the Mars company in the
United States every day.
#2. Christy Walton – net worth $31 billion
Christy Walton is the widow of John T. Walton,
one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of
Wal-Mart. After John's death in June 2005, she
inherited his fortune of $18.2 billion. She is the
richest woman in the world, with the bulk of her
worth coming from shares in Walmart. Walton's
shares in First Solar, a company her husband
invested in, have gone up 47% in the past 12
months, helping to elevate her net worth above the
rest of the Walton clan.
#1. Alice Walton – net worth $38 billion
Alice Walton is one of the richest people in the
world. The heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune has a
net worth of $34.7 billion. She is the third-richest
woman in the world, behind her sister-in-law
Christy Walton and 91-year-old L'Oreal heiress
Liliane Bettencourt. Alice is the youngest child of
Sam and Helen Walton. She is the Walton family's
biggest philanthropist, giving more than $2 million
in 2012 to support charter school initiatives.
