Lillian Bettancourt: biography of France's richest woman

Madame Lillian Bettancourt is the owner of the cosmetic giant L'Oréal. Its analogues Danone, Michelin and Club Mediterranee are an example of competitive companies that today have become more international than French ones.

On the nature of French women

Unlike the Englishwomen who lived in the bad old England of the Victorian era, the qualities inherent in the Frenchwoman - relaxedness, enterprise, ability to dispose of each sous, profitability - began to appear after the numerous revolutions that shook the country in the 18th and 19th centuries. They, literate, sat in shops and behind the counters of cafes and restaurants, led bookkeeping books and, on a par with men, disposed of the capital of the family, trying to multiply it. Madame Lillian Bettancourt successfully continued this tradition.

Childhood and youth

The chemist Eugene Schueller, the son of a baker, was born on 1 October 1922 in Paris, daughter of Lillian. Previously, he created in 1909 a small cosmetic company in the suburbs in Clichy-la-Garenne. The company's task was to produce safe hair dyes, which, when dyed well, would not destroy their structure. This was successful. Then the business expanded. Synthesized clarifiers, shampoos without soap, cold permanent. All the movement of the growing holding is aimed only at continuous development. Do not pass and six years after the birth of his daughter, as the wife of Schueller dies. Now the girl is very close to her father, who is completely given to work and does not think about re-marriage. To receive education, the child is sent to the Dominican order. She, a middle-class girl, is taught good manners, gives diverse and solid Catholic knowledge. All this can further help to strengthen the position of Lillian Henrietta in society. From 15 to 20 years, the girl worked as an intern in the company of her father, comprehending all the subtleties of the case from the lowest stages.

War

In the 40th year in less than two weeks, the fascist troops occupied France. There remained only a small free territory in the south. And Schweller's plants were in the zone of occupation. The entrepreneur began to cooperate with the pro-fascist organization La Cagoule ("Cloak with a hood").

A handsome man from Normandy, Andre-Marie-Joseph Bettancourt, a law student, lived in boarding school since 1935 in Paris. He was friendly with Francois Mitterrand. During the war, he met with the family of Schueller. After the liberation of France, Bettancourt joined the National Movement of POWs and deportees. And he even received the Cross of the Legion of the Knight. Thanks to the testimony of François Mitterrand, as well as Eugene Schueller, the founder of L'Oréal, he avoids scandalous exposures in the complicity of the Nazis.

Creation of a family and the birth of an heiress

June 8, 1950 he married Lillian Schueller. Eugene Schueller gave him his single daughter's hand as a reward for his testimony, which justified him on all counts of joint activities with the Nazis during the occupation. A skilled photographer did master photos of Lillian Bettancourt in his youth. A photo of a blonde beauty in a boa is shown below. At this time, Lillian Bettancourt's husband was a member of the Cabinet. The de Gaulle government honored him with the highest award of France - the Order of the Legion of Honor. The spouse also became deputy chairman in the company L'Oréal. Lilian Bettankur's family was quite respectable. July 10, 1953, the young couple had a daughter, Françoise. Raised in the Catholic faith, Françoise Bettancourt met her future husband, Jean-Pierre Meyers, in Megeve. He was the son of a former rabbi in Neuilly-sur-Seine, who was sent to Auschwitz with his wife. Heiress of the cosmetic empire married on April 6, 1984 in the city of Fiesole, in Tuscany. They have two sons, Jean Victor (born in 1986) and Nicolas (born in 1988), who are brought up as Jews. So the life of Lillian Bettancourt and the family. Biography of a billionaire depended on how the work of her life would work.

L'Oréal Guide

In 35 years after the death of his father, Lillian Bettancourt led the company L'Oreal. Fearing possible nationalization in 1974, the Bettankur family exchanges half of its shares, retaining the dominant voice (53.85%), 4% of the Swiss firm Nestle. They create a joint holding GESPARAL, in which Bettankury had 51% of shares, and Nestle - 49%. The Bettancourt-Meyers family owns 71.66% of the voting rights in L'Oréal. Back in 2004, the partners signed the merger of L'Oréal and GESPARAL. Both sides agree not to increase their holdings and not sell them for five years. According to the newspaper Le Monde of July 7, 2005, Lillian Bettancourt is rich and famous. The state makes her the second woman among the richest in the world. As Forbes estimates in 2010 - this is the third billionaire in the world with a personal capital of $ 20 billion in 2012, Madam Bettancourt received 360 million euros in dividends.

Scandals

After the death of her husband in 2007, Lillian Bettancourt was involved in two court cases, of which she is forced to speak openly.

First, her daughter Francoise accused her mother of incapacity. The reason was expensive gifts worth more than 1 million euros, presented to a personal photographer, Monsieur François-Marie Barnier. Moreover, he asked her to adopt him.

The second proof of the abnormality of the mother Françoise presented in the form of records of her telephone conversations. In the course of the investigation, tax evasion was clarified, money transfers were transferred to off-shores. In addition, illegal donations were made to the election campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Insolvency

In 2011, the press published a report stating that Lillian Bettancourt is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Her daughter Francoise insisted on this. All condition was transferred to her daughter, and she herself - under the care of the eldest grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers. He became the only person able to smooth out all the contradictions between the mother and her daughter.

Charity

With her husband, she created on December 22, 1987 the Bettankur-Schueller Foundation, which is actively fighting AIDS. Thanks to him and for promoting a healthy lifestyle, Madam Bettancourt was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. On December 31, 2001, she was promoted to the Knight of the Legion of Honor for assisting the Ministry of Health. On February 11, 2010, she bequeathed to the Fund an amount of 552 million euros. This is the largest private donation made by Lillian Bettancourt. France can now afford to build a medical research center. In May 2011, Lillian Betancourt donated 10 million euros for the Institute of France, which consists of five national academies.

The property

Mr. Schueller also built a mansion in Brittany opposite the island of Brea in the UK. The villa with columns was built in the 1920s. This is a large building with 25 rooms, tennis court, swimming pool and adjoining park of 3.9 acres. Madame also owns a villa in Sar Formor in Spain, as well as real estate in Saint-Maurice in Normandy. The family also has a mansion in Neuilly-sur-Seine in the suburbs of Paris. He owned an atoll with a villa in the Seychelles. It was bought in 1997. In 2010, the media reported that the French authorities had not been notified of this purchase. He was sold in 2012 for $ 60 million. Madame Bettancourt has always collected paintings of de Chirico, Leger, Picasso, Girode, Matisse, Munch, Joan Miro, Braque, estimated at about 20 million euros (2001).

Despite the fact that the daughter has brought to the domestic review of domestic family affairs, the company's work continues to go successfully. In March 2013, Forbes magazine, Lillian Betancourt was rated as the richest woman in the world with a capital of $ 30 billion.