Liliane Bettencourt

Liliane Bettencourt

Born:21 October 1922 (age 88)
 Paris, France
Occupation:Principal shareholder of L'Oréal
Net worth:US$23.5 billion
Spouse:André Bettencourt
Children:Françoise Bettencourt Meyers

Liliane Bettencourt born 21 October 1922) is a French heiress, socialite, businesswoman and philanthropist. She is one of the principal shareholders of L'Oréal and, with a fortune estimated at US$23.5 billion, is one of the wealthiest people in the world.


Biography:

L'Oréal

Bettencourt was born in Paris, France, the only child of Eugène Schueller, the founder of L'Oréal, one of the world's largest cosmetics and beauty companies. Her mother died in 1927 when Liliane was 5 years old, and she formed a close bond with her father, who never remarried.At the age of 15, she joined her father’s company as an apprentice, mixing cosmetics and labelling bottles of shampoo.

André Bettencourt

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. Bettencourt had been a member of La Cagoule, a violent French fascist group that Liliane's father had funded and supported in the 1930s and that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. After the war, her husband, like other members of La Cagoule, was given refuge at L'Oréal where he was able to successfully sanitise his past.Eventually, the Bettencourts settled in an Art Moderne mansion built in 1951 on rue de Delabordère in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.They had one daughter, Françoise, who was born on 10 July 1953.

In 1957, Liliane Bettencourt inherited the L'Oréal fortune when her father died, becoming the principal shareholder of L'Oréal. In 1963, the company went public, although Bettencourt continued to own a majority stake. In 1974, she exchanged almost half of her stake for a three per cent. (3%) stake in Nestlé S.A

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers

As of 31 December 2009, Ms Bettencourt owned 185,661,879 (31.0%) of the outstanding shares of L'Oréal (of which, 76,440,541 (12.76%) shares are effectively held in trust for her daughter), while the remainder is owned as follows: 178,381,021 (29.78%) shares by Nestlé, 216,384,762 (36.12%) shares are publicly held and the remainder are held as treasury stock or in the company savings plan. The Bettencourt family and Nestle act in concert pursuant to a shareholders’ agreement.[8] Ms Bettencourt is a member of the board of directors of L'Oréal, a position she has held since 1995. Bettencourt’s daughter and her daughter’s husband (Jean-Pierre Meyers) are also members of the board of directors.

Philanthropy:

Bettencourt Schueller Foundation 

In 1987, Liliane 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, France.

The Foundation, which has an annual budget of £160 million, devotes approximately 55% of its funds to scientific education and research, 33% to humanitarian and social projects and 12% to culture and arts. It sponsors prizes through which funds are disbursed to various recipients. For example, the “Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences” is an annual award to a top European biomedical researcher under the age of 45. Winners receive €250,000 to support their work in the field of life science.

Recently, the Foundation helped fund the new Monet wing at the White House.

Recent publicity:
Bettencourt has generally shunned media attention and grants few interviews. However, since 2007, she has faced intense media scrutiny and publicity over her relationship with François-Marie Banier, the estrangement with her daughter Françoise and her alleged funding of conservative French politicians, including French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

“L’affaire Bettencourt”:

By most accounts, Liliane 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 Egoiste.Over the ensuing years, Banier and Bettencourt became friends and she became his chief 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.

In December 2007, just a month after the death of her father, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers lodged a criminal complaint against Banier, accusing him of abus de faiblesse (or the exploitation of a physical or psychological weakness for personal gain) over Bettencourt. As a result of her complaint, the Brigade Financière, the financial investigative arm of the French national police, opened in investigation and, after interviewing members of Bettencourt’s staff, determined to present the case to a court in Nanterre for trial in September 2009. In December 2009, the court delayed ruling on the case until April 2010 (later extended until July 2010) pending the results of a medical examination of Bettencourt’s mental state.However, Bettencourt refused to submit to these examinations.

In July 2010, the trial was adjourned again until autumn 2010, at the earliest, after details of tape recordings made by Bettencourt’s butler, Pascal Bonnefoy, became public. The tapes allegedly reveal that Bettencourt had made Banier her “sole heir,” excluding the L'Oréal shares which make up the bulk of Bettencourt’s estate and which have already been signed over to her daughter and two grandsons.

On 6 December 2010, Bettencourt reconciled with her daughter, ending a series of lawsuits. It is reported that Bettencourt and Banier had separated, and he was eventually written out of Bettencourt's will.However, on June 8 2011, it was reported Meyers filed an application with the court to make Bettencourt a ward of the state for being incapable of management.

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 committed suicide on 23 December 2008 after it became known that his funds had invested a substantial amount of their capital with Madoff.

Political scandal:
In June 2010 during the Bettencourt affair, Bettencourt became embroiled in a high-level French political scandal after other details of the tape recordings made by her butler became public. The tapes allegedly picked up conversations between Bettencourt and her financial adviser, Patrice de Maistre, which indicate that Bettencourt may have avoided paying taxes by keeping a substantial amount of cash in undeclared Swiss bank accounts. The tapes also allegedly captured a conversation between Bettencourt and Éric Wœrth, who was soliciting a job for his wife managing Bettencourt’s wealth, while he was acting as budget minister and running a high-profile campaign to catch wealthy tax evaders.Moreover, Bettencourt received a €30 million tax rebate while Woerth was budget minister.

In July 2010, the scandal appeared to widen after Bettencourt’s former accountant, Claire Thibout, alleged in an interview with the French investigative web-site Mediapart, that conservative French politicians were frequently given envelopes stuffed with cash at the Bettencourt’s mansion in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She alleged that Woerth, while acting as treasurer for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), was given an envelope containing €150,000 in cash in March 2007 towards the presidential campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy. She also made, then retracted, a claim that Sarkozy was a frequent visitor to the Bettencourt’s home while he was mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine from 1983 to 2002 and received envelopes containing cash. A few days later, she affirmed to receive pressure from the French police in order to retract her testimony about Nicolas Sarkozy's illegal cash. Mr Sarkozy and Mr Woerth both deny wrongdoing. Following these allegations, French police raided the home and office of de Maistre, who heads Clymène, the company owned by Bettencourt to manage her wealth. Political donations are limited to €7,500 for political parties and €4,600 for individuals. Contributions above €150 must be paid by cheque with the donor clearly identified.

Forbes’ rankings:
Forbes ranks Bettencourt at 15th in its list of the world’s wealthiest persons with an estimated fortune of US$23.5 billion. She is the richest woman in Europe, the second richest woman in the world (behind Christy Walton and the second richest person in France (behind Bernard Arnault).

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

Amongst her closest friend she has Sonja Zuckerman an Egyptian socialite known for her charitable contributions around the world who is also the grandmother of Richard Rodriguez Mendez who is a major contributor to the Vizcaya Museum and The Deering Estate.