利莉亚娜·贝当古

生平

她是法国美妆公司欧莱雅（L'Oréal）创办人欧仁·许勒尔（Eugène Schueller）的独生女。欧仁·许勒尔逝世后继承其遗产，成为欧莱雅主要股东之一，截至2013年3月，她以300亿美元的身家被估计为世界上最富有的女性。

2017年9月21日，贝当古在家中辞世。

排名

在《福布斯》的全球富豪榜上贝当古以300亿美元身家排名第9位，她是世界上最富有的女性，同时也是法国最富有的人。

《福布斯》在2005年将利莉亚娜·贝当古列入世界上排名第39位最有权势的女人。

利莉亚娜·贝当古在2017年《福布斯》全球富豪榜排名第14，截至3月身家估计330亿欧元。其家族拥有欧莱雅集团33.1%股份，是最大股东。

Liliane Henriette Charlotte Bettencourt (French: [liljan ɑ̃ʁjɛt ʃaʁlɔt bɛtɑ̃kuʁ]; née Schueller; 21 October 1922 – 21 September 2017) was a French heiress, socialite and businesswoman. She was a board member and one of the principal shareholders of L'Oréal. At the time of her death, she was the richest woman in the world, and the 14th richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$44.3 billion.

Biography

She was born Liliane Henriette Charlotte Schueller on 21 October 1922 in Paris, the only child of Louise Madeleine Berthe (née Doncieux) and Eugène Schueller, the founder of L'Oréal, one of the world's largest cosmetics and beauty companies. When Liliane was five years old, her mother died, and she formed a close bond with her father, who later married Liliane's British governess. At the age of 15, she joined her father's company as an apprentice, mixing cosmetics and labelling bottles of shampoo.

In 1950, she married French politician André Bettencourt, who served as a cabinet minister in French governments of the 1960s and 1970s and rose to become deputy chairman of L'Oréal. Mr. Bettencourt had been a member of La Cagoule, a violent French fascist pro-Nazi group that Liliane's father, a Nazi sympathizer, had funded and supported in the 1930s and whose members were arrested in 1937.……

"L'affaire Bettencourt"

By most accounts, Bettencourt met François-Marie Banier, a French writer, artist and celebrity photographer, in 1987 when he was commissioned to photograph her for the French magazine Egoïste. Over the ensuing years, Banier and Bettencourt became friends and she became his benefactor, bestowing gifts upon him estimated to be worth as much as €1.3 billion. These gifts include, amongst other things, a life insurance policy worth €253 million in 2003, another life insurance policy worth €262 million in 2006, 11 works of art in 2001 valued at €20 million, including paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Delaunay and Léger, a photograph by surrealist Man Ray, and cash. The life insurance policies were allegedly signed over to Banier after Bettencourt was recovering from two hospital stays in 2003 and 2006.

Philanthropy

In 1987, Bettencourt, together with her husband and daughter, founded the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation (la Fondation Bettencourt Schueller) to support and develop medical, cultural and humanitarian projects. The foundation is based in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The foundation, which benefits from assets of €150 million and an annual budget of approx €15 million devotes approximately 55% of its funds to scientific education and research, 33% to humanitarian and social projects and 12% to culture and arts.

In 2008, the foundation helped fund the new Monet wing at the Musée Marmottan Monet. Through the foundation, Bettencourt established the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences in 1997, an annual award recognising outstanding contributions by early-career researchers in biology and biomedical science in Europe.

Madoff victim

Bettencourt was reported to be one of the most high-profile victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, losing €22 million. She was the first investor in a fund managed by Access International Advisors, which was co-founded by René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet. De la Villehuchet died by suicide on 22 December 2008, after it became known that his funds had invested a substantial amount of their capital with Madoff.

Forbes' rankings

Forbes ranked Bettencourt in its list of the world's wealthiest persons with an estimated fortune of US$38.8 billion (as of 28 June 2016). As of 2016, she was the top female billionaire in the world, and was also the richest person in France.

In 2005, Forbes judged her to be the 39th most powerful woman in the world.

Honors and awards

Knight of the Order of Legion of Honour