L'Oreal Plunge Costs World's Richest Woman $7 Billion in Minutes

Yesterday, the net worth of Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the world’s wealthiest woman, took a significant hit as shares of L’Oreal, the French beauty company owned in part by her family, experienced their worst single-day performance since the Great Recession.

Bettencourt Meyers and her family saw their fortune plummet by $6.9 billion to $91.7 billion, making the 70-year-old matriarch the biggest loser among billionaires for the day, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaire tracker.

Despite the downturn, Bettencourt Meyers remains the 15th-richest person globally and holds the title of the wealthiest woman by a substantial margin, with a fortune approximately $26 billion larger than that of the second-richest woman, Alice Walton, heiress of Walmart.

The decline in wealth was driven primarily by L’Oreal’s stock, which dropped nearly 8% to a three-month low due to a slowdown in its Asia business, leading to quarterly sales that fell short of analyst expectations. Friday marked the worst day for Paris-listed shares of L’Oreal since October 27, 2008, according to FactSet data.

Bettencourt Meyers, granddaughter of L’Oreal founder Eugène Schueller and the sole daughter of the former wealthiest woman in the world, Liliane Bettencourt, holds the position of vice chairwoman on L’Oreal’s board. L’Oreal ranks as Europe’s sixth-most valuable company by market capitalization, trailing only Novo Nordisk, Nestlé, ASML, LVMH, and Hermés.

Among L’Oreal’s subsidiaries are well-known brands such as Kiehl’s, Maybelline, and Garnier. The 9% year-to-date decline in L’Oreal’s stock resulted in a $25 billion loss in market capitalization.