World’s Richest Woman Liliane Bettencourt Dies At 94

Liliane Bettencourt, heiress of French cosmetics company L’Oreal has died at age 94, family sources say.

Bettencourt, daughter of L’Oreal founder, Eugene Schueller, died at home “peacefully” overnight, a family statement said.

With an estimated worth of $44 billion, she was the world’s richest woman, according to Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

The Bettencourt family currently owns 33% of the L’Oreal Group, which is home to brands like Lancome, Garnier and La Roche-Posay.

A statement by the company’s chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Agon said: “We all had a deep admiration for Liliane Bettencourt who has always watched over L’Oreal, the company and its employees, and who was very attached to its success and development.

“She personally contributed a lot to its success for very many years. A great woman of beauty has left us and we will never forget her.”

Born in 1922, Liliane Henriette Charlotte Schueller joined her father’s company at age 15 as an apprentice, and inherited his stake in 1957.

She married French politician Andre Bettencourt in 1950, and the couple’s only child, Francoise, was born three years later.

Bettencourt served on the company’s board until 2012 amid a bitter legal dispute with her estranged daughter, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers who argued she was not mentally competent to handle her own affairs.

Ms Bettencourt-Meyers filed a lawsuit over concerns that her mother was being exploited by members of her entourage amid declining health.