We all know who the richest men in the world are, but we seldom hear about the richest women. So, it is time to put that right! This is a list of the ten richest women in the world.
1. Liliane Bettencourt Wikipedia
At the age of 83, Liliane Bettencourt is the wealthiest woman in the world and is the 12th richest person overall. She has a net worth estimated at $20.7 billion made possible through the family business, a little company called L’Oreal. She is the daughter of L’Oreal founder Eugene Schueller and holds a controlling stake in the cosmetics giant so is likely to make even more money in the future.
2. Christy Walton Wikipedia
Christy Walton, 51, is the widow of John Walton, the Wal-Mart heir who died in an aircraft accident in June 2005. She inherited $15.9 billion (£8.4 billion) from the company originally founded by Sam Walton, making her the wealthiest woman in the United States. Wal-Mart is still the world’s largest retailer with more than 5,100 stores serving 138 million customers a week and ringing up sales of $285 billion (£151 billion). All of which makes Christy the 24th richest person in the world.
3. Alice Walton Wikipedia
As one would expect, the Waltons have deep family ties. Alice, 56, is the sister of the late John Walton and her fortune of $16.6 billion puts her at number 26 in the world’s rich list. Her brother Rob serves as chairman and the company donates a small fortune to charity through the Walton Family Foundation.
4. Abigail Johnson Wikipedia
As the 42nd richest person in the world, Abigail Johnson’s $13 billion inheritance comes from Fidelity Investments, America’s largest mutual fund company. The firm was founded by her grandfather Edward C. Johnson in 1946. Abigail, 45, interned at Fidelity while pursuing a Harvard MBA and returned full-time in1988. She became president of the company’s mutual fund division in 2001, and picked up $31 billion (£16.4 billion) in fund assets during her first six months. In May 2006 she took over Fidelity’s employer services division, administering payroll and employee stock plans.
5. Anne Cox Chambers Wikipedia
Anne, 86, inherited $12.6 billion (£6.6 billion) from the family media firm Cox Enterprises. Her father James Cox’s empire includes 17 newspapers, 15 TV stations, 79 radio stations and also cable systems. The business also runs to cars, including Manheim Auctions, America’s leading used-car auction business and majority ownership of AutoTrader.com, the world’s largest online auto classifieds site. Last year the family took cable arm Cox Communications private in an $8 billion (£4.2 billion) deal. She is the world’s 45th richest person.
6. Birgit Rausing Wikipedia
Dr Birgit Rausing is a Swedish art historian. Together with her three children, she inherited packaging giant Tetra Laval in January 2000 after her husband Gad Rausing’s death. As of 2007, her net worth is about $11 billion.
7. Jacqueline Mars Wikipedia
Jacqueline Badger Mars is the daughter of Forrest Edward Mars, Sr., and granddaughter of Frank C. Mars, founders of the giant American candy company Mars, Incorporated. With her share of the company, she is worth US$14.0 billion as of September 2007 she is the 58th richest person in the world, and the 19th richest person in the United States according to Forbes, she’s also the fourth richest American woman.
8. Susanne Klatten Wikipedia
Ms. Klatten, 43, picked up $8.1 billion (£4.3 billion) via a 12.5% stake in BMW cars and a 50.1% stake in pharmaceutical manufacturer Altana from her late father, Herbert Quandt. A trained economist with an MBA, Klatten is credited with helping transform Altana into a world-class pharmaceutical/chemical corporation with $3.6 billion (£1.9 billion) in sales and almost 11,000 employees. As of 2007, her net worth is $9.6 billion.
9. Yang Huiyan Wikipedia
Yang Huiyan is the majority shareholder of Country Garden Holdings and is currently considered the wealthiest person in Mainland China, with a net worth of about $9 billion USD as of April 2007. She is the daughter of Yang Guoqiang, who transferred 70% of Country Garden’s shares to her before its IPO.
10. Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler Wikipedia
Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler is joint owner with her son Georg of The Schaeffler Group, one of the world’s largest producers of roller bearings. Maria Elizabeth runs the company, which brought in about $11 billion last year. Her net worth in 2007 is $8.7 billion.
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Isn’t Oprah supposed to be the richest woman in America?
At least Oprah is one who built up her fortune on her own…most women on this list are rich solely because of an inheritance or transference; where are all the self-made female billionaires like Oprah?
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Leo: she is probably the richest female entertainer.
I work inside the Wal-Mart Home Office and struggle to make ends meat just like thousands of their other associates. I’m glad those ladies have it made. Ain’t it grand?
as unfair as that sounds, you can't hate them for being born into that family. It was the luck of the draw for them.
Walmart sucks: such is the lot for the majority of us, alas!
have you noticed that they are really old and none of them actually are self made..mostly inherited or partners with someone
is it just me or does this list consist of inhereted wealth for the most part?
zubair, Juggz: yep – lucky for them I guess
Aren’t there some female monarchs who could sneak their way onto this list?
Oprah Winfrey is worth “only” (heh, only) $2.5 billion, making her the richest
I’d imagine she’s probably the richest self-made woman.
She actually had to lift a finger for her money.
No wait, I forgot, these ladies probably had to sign some checks here and there…
[Edited by the omnipresent jfrater]
David H, do you mean $2.5.BILLION? I’m assuming so…
Oops, yep, typo.
Thanks for pointing it out (too late to change it though).
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How depressing. We are now in the 21st century and all of the top ten richest women inherited their money. (I do realize that most of the richest men also inherited their money as well.
Here’s a quiz for you all – who said “Why should men leave great fortunes to their children?”…”great sums bequeathed often work more for the injury than the good of the recipients”…”It is not the welfare of the children, but family pride, which inspires these legacies.” Give up?
Andrew Carnegie, self-made man and founder of what became US Steel, who gave away the equivalent of 4.3 billion dollars, including for Carnegie Libraries and Carnegie Institute of Technology (now part of Carnegie Mellon University).
Of course, the Walton Family Foundation did give away $158 million in 2005 (latest year on their site). Let’s see, that’s almost 1 percent of the inheritance of either Christy Walton or Alice Walton. For some reason, I’m not particularly impressed with the fact that they are not even donating all of the interest that their inherited fortunes are making to charity. Anyone want to talk about estate taxes?
To bad only one or two of them actually made their own money. Personally i would love to inherit billions of dollars. But hey that’s just me.
I’d be a lot more impressed by this list if any of them were self-made or even if they had had a hand in amassing their fortune. It would be nice to inherit a tidy bundle, but that’s just a fluke of birth, not evidence of any special ability or favor.
I don’t even like Oprah, but I’m impressed by what she had done.
I’d have to agree with you, Fe.
I am no fan of Oprah either, but what she has done with the background she has is phenomenal.
Mathilda: and you know they only donate the money for a tax break! It isn’t true charity.
Did I spell my username right? I am only 10, so I dont know how to spell it. Well, back to the topic. Umm… I think these women are crazy. How did they earn that much?!? Anne Cox Chambers, for example. She is so rich, she can buy around 3 mansions, I bet!
y u lie? my daughter richest in universe. my daughter princess omagochi silveri is worth $55billion dollars, & she is self made, from selling teabags & sugar on the streets of dubai in 1992. trust me, she can buy a country if she please. all she need is jiggy-jiggy, so bring your sons to dubai & lets marry quiet, do dancing, little mushu & then jiggy-jiggy. come quick!
thanks very much for working hard
i wounder what this women will use all this money for.Am happy for them,but…..hhhhh,they are not selfmade.
Well Zhang Yin, 49, is one of china’s richest self made woman!!!!!!!! she owns the 9 dragon recycling company. Her story is truly amazing, so much determination and now she has made it!!!
actually, oprah winfry is the richest women, just so you know ;]
Wow I expected oprah to be on there lol
I’ve always heard she’s the richest woman in the world but that’s obviously an urban legend…
@ jessica:
$800 million is Oprahs net worth…WAY below even the lowest person on this list…
Where do you get your information, you need to do some more research that's not true, not by a long shot. But, oh well what the hell you wont benefit from the truth. You just like passing gossip on.
what happened to oprah is it because she is black?
when will people be looked at as a person not becasuse the are brown whit black green???
It has nothing to do with Black or White. Do your research then respond, stop making everything about race when it is clearly not.
paulina schiaretti: did you read the comment directly above yours? Oprah does not have enough money to be anywhere near this list. I take great offence that you presume I have left her off because she is black. Oprah is worth 800 million – the poorest woman on this list is worth 8 billion.
Yeah…Oprah was not listed b/c she is black….it had nothing to do with the fact that her net worth is 1.4 billion according to Forbes.com. What was the lowest net worth for the TOP 10 women listed…oh, 8.7 billion. Do you have any idea which is greater?? Before you make stupid comments and turn something into a racial matter, do some research. Oprah is an amazing lady and the list was derived from factual information. I am sure she would have made the TOP 10 list if her net worth was over 8.7 billion. However, it is not!!
i agree with all the richest women but they have inherited wealth from the past but oprah came from a poor family and suffered a lot for this position which she is now and she is having helping nature alsoand sometime i think i must meet oprah in her studio but i cannot afford to do that bcoz i am a poor lady but anyway if she is not in the list also, i like people to respect for her growth
none of them are self made billionares…
So what they are still billionaires; somebody in their family worked for that money. Would you like to see it burned before the perso's last breath. Stop being jealous, be happy for people and maybe you will be blessed with something to leave those whom you love.
The key word in most of these financial fantasies is ‘inherited.’
Check out # 4!!
I see that Abigail Johnson has done a great job of making her company become a success . Working all of her life to improve it, with dedication and all of her self worth. She is a shining example of a worthy list resider.
Inheriting wealth does not make a person rich. Earning the actual wealth from ground zero is what makes the person rich, so says Confucius
What make you rich can be a number of things including money, but how do you feel and what you think about where you are in you life. Are you happy? Forget about Confucius, what role does he play in your real life. How has he made your life rich, he has his own wisdom, do you have yours.
i wonder if they are happy with their lives???
If you knew the answer would it make your life better, would it provide you with some happiness. Just pray that they are happy and that will be quite sufficient. Are you yourself happy, focus on your own happiness and pray that others find theirs.
Why is it an issue of complaint whether somebody receives an inheritance or not?
And working for the mass media is not a legitimate way of earning a living, for they are run by the enemy. It is actually a form of treason.
I know the answer but wanted you to confess the truth: when we are jealous we should be criticizin ourself for bein jealous; not criticizin the one that we are jealous OF.
$$ cannot buy love,happiness,or stop the ravages of time. Nice to have, but character is timeless.
only a person with no money would say money does not buy happiness.
wooooohhhhh!!!! super rich, can you give me money???? $ 5.5 million, tnx, joking
I’m glad you said you were joking otherwise I’m sure these women would be lining up to give you the 5.5 million you asked for.
what do you call you name sheikh shah suree or what idont want to know u are a big fool capital BIG FOOL you need to work amd become somebody great
I think that they are very lucky to be very wealthy….. And I wish I had half the money that they have.
if oprah is worth $2.5 billion (£1.25 billion) and queen elizabeth of the united kingdom is worth £17 billion ($34 billion) i don’t under stand how oprah winfrey is supposed to be the richest woman in the world?
this is inspirational and motivating to women,that they can do it too.bbravo
i wish these women were hot so i could marry one of them or all. Im mormon so its ok.
What about Oprah?
Oprah is worth 2.5 billion as of 2007 – the poorest woman on this list is worth 8.7 billion – Oprah is a long way off!
Also, England: Queen Elizabeth if worth $500 million – she is nowhere near this list either.
No i will think you’ll find that from source subject, Queen Elizabeth is worth £500 Mill, but her real estate humonic wealth is £17 Bill so i think she tops nearly every woman on this list
I wonder why the Mars girl is fat…
WATCH OUT………ladies……..
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Could we have a list of the happiest, most content women in the world and also in the USA?? Bet it would not be these extremely wealthy ones. Have seen very wealthy up close and personal, some of the most miserable and friendless people in the world.
ladies who need a good man should contect me
How can I have the email addresses and other contact information of these lady billionairs?????. I want to have them as my friends and one of them as my sweet honey wife. I will be one of the happiest men on earth if I get the priviledge of marrying one of them.
Hey don’t be hating on these ladies, tru most of them inhereted their money, but it stil takes brains to keep it once you’ve got it!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder where J.K Rowling would be on that list…
Andyobdy that doesn’t know who she is, is a big shock to me.
to me this ladys are incredible bcos inherit or no inherit what matters is where there have been with what handled to them.even i chibyke will be the happiest man on eath if i get the priviledge of marrying one of them. am so serious about this.
People wondering why there are no self-made women on this list?
Even with the feminist movement and the PC – and ridiculous – ‘equality’ concept (no two humans are equal), the answer lies in logic: Men are genetically more adept at the skills required for starting and running a business.
Yes, I am *****ist/logical in that I acknowledge the objective differences in the general man and the general woman. And there ARE differences.
You know it makes sense.
To freedom,
Scotty Stevens
I wish, i would 1 of those lucky women