Bettencourt Meyers' fortune has surpassed $100 billion thanks to a surge in L'Oréal SA shares, which hit a record high on Thursday. Her net worth reached $100.1 billion on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
The 70-year-old and her family hold around 35% of L'Oréal, making them the largest shareholders in the company founded by her grandfather in 1909.
Bettencourt Meyers – who is also the richest woman in the world – inherited tens of billions of dollars as well as assets such as mansions when her mother Liliane Bettencourt died in 2017. The two were embroiled in a family feud over their inheritance.
Bettencourt Meyers is considered reclusive and spends her days at home reading or playing the piano, Vanity Fair reported in 2017. She is also the author of two books: a five-volume Bible study and a genealogy of Greek gods.
The second richest woman in the world is currently American Alice Walton, heiress to another retail empire: Walmart. Walton's fortune is worth $70 billion.
Even though Bettencourt Meyers' net worth has reached the $100 billion mark, making her the 12th richest person in the world, her net worth is still behind that of her French retail mogul Bernard Arnault.
Arnault, the founder of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is the second richest person in the world after Elon Musk with a net worth of $179 billion.
L'Oréal shares closed 0.6% higher at 451.30 euros on Thursday. The stock is up 35% since the start of the year.