The Richest Women in the World

In 1990, the co-founder of Hong Kong-based real estate company Sun Hung Kai Properties passed away, leaving his widow Kwong Siu-hing, and their sons his estate and control of the company. Kwong served as chairperson of the company from 2008 to 2011. She is the largest shareholder in the company.

After working for 10 years at Foxconn, an iPhone assembly company, Wang Laichun became a big name in the electronics industry. Wang and her brother partnered to purchase Luxshare Precision, a company that makes electronic cables for technology companies, including Apple. As a co-founder of her company, she has amassed great wealth, becoming a self-made billionaire.

Kirsten Rausing was born in Sweden but eventually moved to the United Kingdom. Her grandfather founded Tetra Pak, a food packaging company that became a part of the holding company Tetra Laval. Rausing owns one-third of the company and serves on the board of directors. She has also focused on philanthropy, founding the Alborada Trust, which addresses world hunger and wildlife conservation.

Charlene de Carvalho Heineken is the sole heiress to the Heineken empire, which was purchased and re-named by her great grandfather Gerard Adriaan Heineken. She currently owns one-quarter of the company, and serves as an executive director.

Zhou Qunfei grew up in a low-income, rural family and struggled to have enough food to eat. Through a small savings she had earned through factory work, Zhou and her family started a touch-screen tech company called Lens Technology. Her new business became extremely successful. The company went public in 2015, securing Zhou’s place as one of the wealthiest self-made women in the world. She is actively involved in philanthropy.

Fan Hongwei and her husband took out a loan in order to purchase and restructure a chemical textile factory in Wujiang, China. Their structural adjustments enabled the success of the factory, and they expanded manufacturing sites and amassed a fortune worth billions. Fan serves as the CEO and chair of the company, alongside her husband.

Wu Yajun is another self-made billionaire whose career began as a factory worker. Wu eventually became a journalist at China Shirong News Agency, where she built significant connections that helped her break into the real estate industry. Together with her former husband, Wu co-founded Longfor Properties. Wu is a philanthropist, and makes educational, social, and environmental contributions.

Laurene Powell Jobs inherited much of her wealth when her husband, Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, passed away from cancer in 2011. Powell Jobs is heavily involved in philanthropy and social advocacy. She founded the Emerson Collective, a for-profit organization that aims to address immigraiton reform, environmental disasters, and other social issues.

Abigail Johnson inherited a 24.5% stake in her grandfather’s company, Fidelity Investments. While her wealth was gained through her inheritance, Johnson has significantly increased that wealth. Starting at Fidelity Investments as an analyst in 1988, Johnson worked her way up the ladder to eventually become CEO, a position she has held since 2014. Johnson is an active philanthropist in the nonprofit and art worlds. She holds an MBA from Harvard University.

Yang Huiyan inherited a large portion of the real estate development company Country Garden Holdings from her father in 2007. After obtaining a degree in marketing and logistics from Ohio State University, Yang went on to become one of the wealthiest women in China by the age of 25. Yang also owns an education company called Bright Scholar Education Holdings, and she founded the Guangdong Guoqiang Charity Fund.

The widow of Chilean billionaire Andronico Luksic, Iris Fontbona and her family inherited a large mining and beverage empire in 2005. The families’ copper mines are still successful. Fontbona and her family are also stakeholders in the highly diversified conglomerate corporation Quiñenco.

Susanne Klatten is the wealthiest woman in Germany. She obtained her fortune through an inheritance from her family and holds a 19% stake in BMW. Klatten also has a majority stake in the pharmaceutical company Altana. She has an MBA from the IMD Business School in Switzerland.

Miriam Adelson, a physician born in Israel, is the widow of billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021. She inherited much of his fortune, including 50% of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire. Together with her late husband, Adelson founded the Sheldon G. Adelson Research Clinic, which aims to help those with opioid substance abuse disorders. Adelson has contributed to numerous philanthropic causes and is also a major donor to the Republican Party.

Lang Hancock, the father of Georgina (Gina) Rinehart, began an iron mining company called the Hancock Prospecting Group in 1955. When Rinehart took over the company, she restructured and expanded the business, amassing wealth in the process. Rinehart also owns a variety of cattle-producing properties. She is Australia’s richest person.

MacKenzie Scott amassed much of her wealth through her divorce from Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. Scott is both an author and a significant philanthropist. She has pledged to give away half of her wealth throughout her lifetime and has contributed billions of dollars to nonprofits. Scott is listed as one of Forbes top givers in 2022.

Jacqueline Mars and her two brothers are the grandchildren of Frank C. Mars, who founded the Mars candy company. She inherited one-third of the company, which she worked at for 20 years while serving as a board member. Mars is an advocate for women’s education and serves on the board of the National Archives Foundation.

Following the death of her husband David H. Koch, Julia Flesher Koch inherited over 40% of Koch Industries. Koch Industries is a conglomerate that owns a variety of businesses, including Georgia-Pacific, Guardian Industries, and Koch Minerals and Trading. Koch has donated millions of dollars to various medical centers and is president of the David H. Koch Foundation.

Alice Walton’s father, Sam Walton, founded Walmart. Walton is the chairman of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which she opened in 2011 in Arkansas. Walton makes significant charitable contributions to the arts, and is a prolific art collector.

Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the wealthiest woman in the world. She inherited her fortune from her parents, who were owners of the French cosmetics company L’Oreal, originally founded by Bettencourt Meyers’ grandfather. Bettencourt Meyers is heavily involved in philanthropy, particularly in the fields of science and art.