Liliane Bettencourt

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Liliane Bettencourt (born 21 October, 1922) is one of the richest people in France and one of the wealthiest people in the world and the wealthiest woman living. Forbes magazine estimated her wealth in 2006 at $16 billion.

Bettencourt was the only child of Mr. Eugène Schueller, the founder of L'Oréal, one of the world's leading cosmetics and beauty companies. In 1927, her mother died when Liliane was 5 years old. In 1950, she married French politician André Bettencourt. She now lives in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Together, they have one daughter, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, who is a member of L'Oréal's board of directors. Françoise Meyers married Jean-Pierre Meyers, the grandson of a rabbi who died in Auschwitz concentration camp.

In 1957, Bettencourt inherited the L'Oréal fortune from her father. She is the principal shareholder of L'Oréal. The company ownership breakdown: 27.5% by Liliane Bettencourt, 26.4% by Nestlé, the remaining 46.1% are publicly traded.

Bettencourt's family has a reputation for secrecy, partly due to controversy surrounding her father's connection with La Cagoule, a violent French fascist-leaning and anti-communist group.

She created the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, which awards the "Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences" to a European researcher under the age of forty-five.

A report by Forbes has her listed as the second richest person in France behind Bernard Arnault who has an estimated $21.5 billion to her $16 billion.