Victor EzejaPBA’s list of world’s ’20 richest women’ serves to show that great wealth is not exclusive to men; women are good billionaires as well. Many of these women attained billionaire status either by inheriting fortunes and adding more, or by creating wealth from the scratch..
Forbes Magazine had in its publication of April 2022, listed 2668 women billionaires. That list was updated in early April 2023. It had stated that 327 of the women were worth a collective $1.56 trillion, up from $1.53 trillion in 2021, adding that 10 richest among them were worth $401 billion. Forbes’ latest ranking of the world’s richest people picked 337 billionaires out of 2,640, and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers retains her position as the richest woman in the world. This she has done consecutively for three years.
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Forbes also reported that 226 of the highly rich women in its World Billionaires List, inherited their wealth, while 101 of them were “self-made–meaning they founded or cofounded a company or established their own fortune, as opposed to inheriting it.”
In this article, we will highlight top 20 Richest Women in the world as at 2022.
1. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (2022 net worth: $74.8 billion)
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the world’s richest woman for the second time with an estimated net worth of $74.8 billion US dollars. She is French businesswoman and heiress. Meyers first appeared on the World’s Billionaires List in 2018, following the death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt and subsequently, the World’s Richest Woman.
She is the granddaughter of Eugene Schueller, founder of the world’s largest cosmetics company, L’Oréal with headquarters in France.women
She is a writer, pianist and a philanthropist. She acquired the fortune from her grandfather Eugène Schueller. After the death of her mother in September 2017 her fortune tripled with her investments through the family holding company, Tethys Invest.
2. Alice Walton ($65.3 billion)
Alice Louise Walton was once quoted as saying, “One of the great responsibilities that I have is to manage my assets wisely, so that they create value.”
She is the daughter of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, one of the biggest and most successful American retail chains in the world.
As heiress to the Walmart fortune her networth as at December 2022 is estimated at $65.3 billion, an increase of estimated $3.5 billion over the past year. The increase according to Forbes was due to rising value of Walmart stock.
3. Julia Koch ($60 billion)
Julia Koch is the widow of David Koch, a philanthropist who in 2019.
Julia and her children inherited 42 per cent of the fortune from Kosh Industry owned by the husband David Kosh. Koch Industries, Inc. is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States.
David’s older brother, Charles Koch, is chairman and also owns a 42 percent stake in the company.
4. MacKenzie Scott ($43.6 billion)
MacKenzie Scott is a former wife of American billionaire and founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.
After their divorce, MacKenzie was said to have received 4 per cent stake in Amazon which was worth about $35 billion at the time.
She is also a novelist and philanthropist and was named one of the world’s most powerful women by Forbes in 2021. She is also the winner of American Book Award for her 2005 debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
5. Jacqueline Mars ($31.7 billion)
Jacqueline Mars is an American investor and heiress to the candy company, Mars, founded by Audrey Ruth (Meyer), Forrest Mars, Sr., and Frank C. Mars.
She is among top 10 richest women of 2022 as listed in Forbes list; 18th richest American and 48th richest person in the world.
6. Gina Reinhart ($30.2 billion)
Gina Reinhart is the chairwoman of an Australian mining and agriculture company, Hancock Prospecting.
The mineral exploration and extraction company found by her father, Lang Hancock, has made her the richest person in Australia.
7. Miriam Adelson ($27.5 billion)
Miriam Adelson is the widow of a casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson.
Miriam, an Israeli-American physician and publisher, now owns her late-husband’s nearly 50% stake in Las Vegas Sands following his death in early 2021.
Adelson is the 7th richest woman, 44th richest person and richest Israeli in the world.
8. Susanne Klatten ($24.3 billion)
Susanne Klatten is a German billionaire industrialist. She owns about 19 per cent of the German automaker BMW, which she inherited from her mother Johanna Quandt and father Herbert Quandt.
9. Iris Fontbona ($22.8 billion)
Iris Balbina Fontbona González inherited Antofagasta PLC after the death of her husband making her a billionaire businesswoman. She owns Antofagasta mining company and also controls Banco de Chile, Madeco, a copper products manufacturer, the country’s largest brewer, CCU, and a shipping company, CSAV.
She is the wealthiest person in Chile, the third wealthiest in Latin America, and the ninth wealthiest woman worldwide in 2022.
10. Yang Huiyan ($22.4 billion)
Yang Huiyan is a Chinese billionaire businesswoman and property developer.
She owns majority shares of a real estate company called Country Garden Holdings established by her father, Yang Guoqiang in 1997.
The estimated net worth of Yang Huiyan is $22.4 billion.
11. Abigail Johnson ($21.2 billion)
Abigail Pierrepont Johnson is the CEO of Fidelity Investments founded by her grandfather in 1946. She took over management of the company after her father, Ned Johnson III, died in March 2014 and owns an estimated 24.5 per cent stake in the firm, which has $4.2 trillion in managed assets.
12. Laurene Powell ($20.6 billion)
Laurene Powell, a billionaire businesswoman born in New Jersey, the United States, is founder and chair of Emerson Collective and co-founder and chairwoman of XQ Institute.
She is the widow of Apple Inc’s co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs. Apart from being involved in various businesses she also manages the Steve Jobs Trust. Her estimated net worth as of 2022 is $20.6 billion.
13. Wu Yajun ($17.9 billion)
Yajun is a Chinese self-made billionaire who once worked as a journalist, before moving into real estate in the 1990s.
She is the founder and CEO of Longfor Properties.
Yajun has also made investment in technology companies including Evernote and Uber.
Born in the year 1964 at Chongqing, China, the net worth of Wu Yajun assets are valued at an estimated $17.9 billion.
14. Fan Hongwei ($16.8 billion)
Fan Hongwei, a Chinese entrepreneur, is the CEO and Chairman of Hengli Petrochemical and one of the 20 richest women in the world 2022. She is also a vice-chairman of Hengli Group. She started her career as an accountant and today she owns one of the largest fiber producers in China.
Her estimated net worth is $16.8 billion.
15. Lu Zhongfang ($16.4 billion)
Lu Zhongfang is a billionaire businesswoman and founder of Offcn Education Technology. The institute is involved in providing training for the civil service exam.
Her estimated net worth is $16.4 billion.
16. Zhou Qunfei
Zhou Qunfei is the founder of one of the most renowned touchscreen maker Lens Technology. She known as the richest woman in tech, richest self-made woman of the world, and richest woman in China. Her net worth is estimated $16.1 billion in August 2022.
17. Charlene de Carvalho Heineken ($15.8 billion)
Charlene de Carvalho Heineken is also among the richest women in the world 2022, with her net worth $15.8 billion.
She is also the richest person in the Netherlands, and owns a 25 per cent controlling stake in the 2nd largest brewer of the world Heineken N.V.
She is daughter of a Dutch industrialist, Freddy Heineken. Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1954, Heineken acquired a law degree from Leiden University.
18. Kirsten Rausing ($13.2 billion)
Kirsten Rausing, a British billionaire, is one of the 20 richest women in the world 2022 with her net worth of $13.2 billion. She is one of the members of holding company Tetra Laval.
She is one of the richest women of Britain.
19. Wang Laichun ($12.7 billion)
Wang Laichun is a chairwoman, and co-founder of Luxshare Precision Industry Co. Ltd – an electronics manufacturer. According to The Daily Telegraph, she was one of the youngest self-made women billionaires in the world in 2014.
Her estimated net worth is $12.7 billion.
20. Kwong Siu-hing ($12.2 billion)
Kwong Siu-hing is a board member of Sun Hung Kai Properties. She is the widow of Sun Hung Kai Properties founder Kwok Tak-seng.
Born on December 2, 1929 in Hua County, Guangdong, China, her estimated net worth as of 2022 is $12.2 billion.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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