The inheritance behind the L'Oréal stake
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers owes her fortune to a company founded more than a century ago. Her grandfather, the chemist Eugène Schueller, developed a synthetic hair dye in Paris and in 1909 founded the business that became L'Oréal. Under Schueller and later professional managers, the company grew from hair coloring into a global group selling cosmetics, skin care, perfume and hair products under many brands.
Schueller's only child, Liliane Bettencourt, inherited his shares and remained the company's main shareholder for decades. In 1974 she exchanged part of her holding for shares in Nestlé, bringing the Swiss food group in as the second largest shareholder in L'Oréal. That arrangement stabilized ownership and kept L'Oréal independent while it expanded internationally.
When Liliane Bettencourt died in September 2017, her daughter Françoise, her only child, inherited the family's interest. The shares are held through the family holding company Téthys, together with her husband and two sons. The value of the L'Oréal stake makes up nearly all of her wealth, and it has risen considerably over the decades as the company acquired brands and grew strongly in markets such as China and the United States.
Téthys and the family holdings
The family's main holdings include:
- L'Oréal shares: the core of the fortune, held mainly through the holding company Téthys
- Téthys Invest: an investment arm created to put part of the family's dividend income into other businesses, with stakes in companies in sectors such as health care, services and consumer goods
- Board seats: the family is represented on the L'Oréal board, where Françoise Bettencourt Meyers has served as a director since 1997
Her husband, Jean-Pierre Meyers, has long served on the L'Oréal board and has been closely involved in running Téthys, and their sons Jean-Victor and Nicolas Meyers have also joined the board. Jean-Victor Meyers became a board member in 2012 and Nicolas Meyers joined later, which prepares a third generation of family representation.
The family's shareholder agreements with Nestlé have shaped L'Oréal's governance for decades. Over the years, L'Oréal has bought back shares, including some from Nestlé, which over time has increased the relative weight of the Bettencourt Meyers family in the company's capital.
Childhood, writing and the family dispute
Françoise Bettencourt was born in July 1953 in the Paris area, the only child of Liliane Bettencourt and the politician André Bettencourt, who served as a minister in several French governments. She grew up in a wealthy household but has described a lonely childhood and a distant relationship with her mother.
In 1984 she married Jean-Pierre Meyers, the grandson of a rabbi killed at Auschwitz. Raised Catholic, she has written about religious history and the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. Her published work includes a multi volume commentary on the Bible and a study of the genealogy of the Greek gods. She is also known as a dedicated pianist who practices for hours each day.
From 2007 she was at the center of a widely reported legal conflict known as the Bettencourt affair. She filed a complaint alleging that the photographer François-Marie Banier had taken advantage of her elderly mother to obtain large gifts. The case grew into a broader scandal involving secret recordings, tax questions and political funding. A court placed Liliane Bettencourt under the guardianship of her family in 2011, and several people, including Banier, were later convicted of abuse of weakness, although some sentences were reduced on appeal.
Foundation work and public role
The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, created in 1987 by Liliane Bettencourt, her husband and their daughter, is the family's main philanthropic vehicle. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers chairs it. The foundation focuses on three fields: life sciences, the arts and solidarity. It awards prizes to young researchers, supports craftsmanship and artistic trades in France through the Prize for Intelligence of the Hand, and funds social programs for people in difficulty.
After the April 2019 fire at Notre Dame de Paris, the Bettencourt Meyers family, together with L'Oréal and the foundation, pledged a major donation toward the cathedral's restoration. The cathedral reopened to the public in December 2024 after the reconstruction work.
Bettencourt Meyers keeps a reserved public profile. She rarely gives interviews and attends L'Oréal shareholder meetings and board duties rather than appearing as a business celebrity. Her role is chiefly that of a long term family shareholder, concerned with maintaining the family's place in L'Oréal's capital and passing it on to the next generation.