Millionaires 2021: The 10 richest women in the world in 2021
From the United States to China, 328 women made the Forbes billionaires list, up from 241 last year. As a group, the women on the list are worth $1.53 trillion, an increase of nearly 60% over last year.
Collectively, they added $570.7 billion to their wealth, thanks in large part to the rally in stock markets around the world. Twelve of these women share their fortune with their husband, son or brother, compared with seven women who shared their fortune last year, including German Beate Heister, heiress to the Aldi supermarket fortune, who shares it with her brother Karl Albrecht , Jr.
As well as this year's newcomer who shares her fortune: Keiko Erikawa originally from Japan. She and her husband Yoichi founded the video game developer Koei Tecmo four decades ago.
Erikawa is also one of 108 women to have made themselves millionaires, up from 67 women last year, demonstrating the rise of female entrepreneurs joining the ranks of billionaires; Similarly, there were 66 women who, despite inheriting her wealth, continued to make it grow.
Miuccia Prada, for example, has grown the family's luxury fashion company, Prada, into a $2.9bn brand, based on 2020 sales, along with her husband and co-CEO, Patrizio Bertelli. In addition, there were 154 women who inherited the fortune from it but are not actively involved in expanding it; like Dagmar Dolby, owner of approximately 36% of Dolby Laboratories (a publicly traded audio technology company founded by her late husband, Ray Dolby).
The world's wealthiest woman is Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the L'Oreal heiress, who earned the highest dollar gain among women whose fortunes are tied to public stocks.
The share price of L'Oreal, in which she and her family own a 33% stake, has risen nearly 40% since last March, helping add $24.7bn to Bettencourt's net worth.
She is followed by MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, who also got richer this year, despite her extensive philanthropic efforts during the pandemic. Scott, who has vowed to give away her wealth "until the safe is empty," gave nearly $6 billion to charities across the United States in 2020.
Thanks to the rising Amazon stock he got in the divorce, he's now worth more ($53bn on this year's list) than he was when he started ($36bn on our 2020 ranking).
Not everyone won in 2021, however: The fortunes of 24 women declined last year due to falling stocks and declining private property values.
In October, German billionaire Friede Springer gave up 15% of the company (worth about $1.2 billion) to the CEO of Axel Springer, the German publisher founded by her late husband. In an effort to encourage a smooth transition, she also sold him an additional 4.1% of the company and he now has just 22%.
Read: Millionaires 2021: The 10 richest people in Mexico
Here are the 10 most powerful women in the world:
(Net worths are as of March 5, 2021)
#1 | Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family
Net worth: $73.6 billionAge: 67Citizenship: FrenchSource of wealth: L’oreal
Bettencourt Meyers inherited the fortune from her mother, Liliane Bettencourt (died 2017) and her grandfather, Eugene Schueller, founded cosmetics giant L'Oréal.
The company's profit of $33.6 billion based on sales in 2020 fell 6% in 2020, in part because consumers lost their appetite for makeup during lockdown measures.
However, the company's shares continued to rise 38%, thanks to the recovery in demand for cosmetics, especially skin care products. Bettencourt Meyers has been a member of L'Oreal's board of directors since 1997.
#2 | Alice Walton
Net worth: $61.8 billionAge: 71Citizenship: AmericanSource of wealth: Walmart
Sam Walton's daughter lost her place as the world's richest woman to Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, but earned $7.4bn last year as Walmart shares rose more than 5% since mid-March 2020 .
The retail giant introduced free delivery as part of a membership program similar to Amazon Prime, which helped boost online sales 69% in the year to January.
My response to recent comments by Japan's Justice Minister Masako Mori in the FT.https://t.co/0KomdnPSF1
— Carlos Ghosn カルロス・ゴーン Tue Jan 21 17:13:23 +0000 2020