Alice Walton: From heiress to billionaire
Alice Walton, the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, has long been a well-known figure in the financial world. She recently overtook Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, heiress to the L’Oréal fortune, to become the richest woman in the world. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Alice Walton’s net worth has now exceeded the $95 billion mark for the first time, largely due to Walmart’s impressive performance on the stock market.
Walmart’s Stock Rise: The Catalyst Behind Walton’s Wealth
Walmart, the retail giant founded by Sam Walton, has seen a significant increase in its share price, rising 44% to reach a record high this year. This increase was a key factor in increasing Alice Walton’s net worth by $25 billion. Her current value is over $95 billion, bringing her closer to the status of a centi-billionaire elite.
In contrast, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the French heiress to the L’Oréal fortune, has lost $9 billion in wealth this year, bringing her net worth down to $91 billion. That decline is largely due to a 12 percent drop in L’Oréal’s share price since January. Bettencourt Meyers, who inherited a 35 percent stake in the world’s largest cosmetics company from her mother Liliane Bettencourt in 2017, has slipped to 20th place on Bloomberg’s richest list, while Walton has risen to 18th place.
Walton family wealth: A collective fortune
Alice Walton is not the only one with extraordinary wealth; her two brothers, Robson and Jim Walton, are also billionaires, with net worths of $95.8 billion and $98 billion, respectively. Assuming Sam Walton splits his Walmart shares evenly among his four children, each sibling owns more than 11 percent of the company. Since 1992, the Walton family has collectively earned more than $15 billion from dividends and stock sales, according to Bloomberg estimates.
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