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The world’s richest woman and L’Oréal heiress, Liliane Bettencourt has died at the age of 94. According to her daughter Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, Bettencourt passed away in the early morning on Thursday at her home in Paris. Bettencourt was just a month shy of her 95th birthday, on October 21st.
This year Forbes ranked Bettencourt as the richest woman in the world with a net worth of nearly $40 billion, making her the world’s fourteenth richest person. L’Oréal CEO and chairman Jean-Paul Agon expressed his condolences to the family saying, “We all had a deep admiration for Liliane who has always watched over L’Oréal the company and its employees, who was very attached to its success and development.”
Bettencourt left the board of the company in 2012, but she continued to dominate the headlines most notoriously with the “Bettencourt Affair" which covers numerous scandals dating back to World War II. So many that a book even chronicles the unimaginable tangled web that is the “Bettencourt Affair” written by Tom Sancton.
However, the most notable rumor to come to light is her daughter Françoise’s accusation that her mother was mentally incompetent and had been swindled by her longtime friend and photographer François Marie Bainer who over the years received generous gifts totaling 1bn euros from Bettencourt including cash, real estate, life insurance policies and a Picasso painting. Another scandal erupted out of this in 2010 when Bettencourt was accused of making illegal payments to French government officials including, Nicolas Sarkozy.
While, their family has had their fair share of dirty laundry, the future of L’Oréal remains uncertain. The Bettencourt family owns 33% of L’Oréal, while the Swiss company Nestle owns a 23% stake. L’Oréal stock has soared since Bettencourt's death amid speculation of a Nestle buyout.
There is an agreement between Nestlé and the Bettencourt's to not increase stake, but this will expire in six months, leaving way for Nestlé to buy up all of L’Oréal or get out before the industry hits its peak.
The worry is that this will do very little for Nestlé's primary business of food, even though it will reinforce their skincare assets as L’Oréal owns Lancôme, Urban Decay, Maybelline, Clarasonic, Khiel’s, Garnier, Essie, NYX and many more. The substantial risk Nestlé would have to consider is whether the cosmetic industry has already seen its climax. While this is a risky deal, Nestlé could potentially buy the remaining 77% for $120 billion, if the Bettencourts are willing to sell.
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