TMost of the world’s billionaires are celebrities in their own right, famous for their diverse ventures in various industries including finance, fashion, e-commerce, and hair and skincare. Their stories are simply fascinating, especially those of the female billionaires who have made their mark in a man’s world. Forbes tracks the wealth of billionaires worldwide in real time, which prompted our list of the richest women in the world.

The 10 richest women in the world

Here are the female billionaires who will top our list on August 9, 2024:

Also read: Top 10 richest women in India in 2024
How did the top female billionaires earn their fortune? We find out this and more about them here:

1. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and family

Thanks to her multi-generational wealth, Francoise is currently the richest woman in the world. As the granddaughter of the founder of L’Oréal, she and her family own over a third of the company. Francoise is chairwoman of the family holding company. While the company’s performance fell during the pandemic, it has since recovered strongly; at the end of 2023, Francoise even became the first woman to have a fortune of $100 billion.

2. Alice Walton

• Age: 74
• Country: United States

Alice Walton, another heiress, is one of the descendants of Walmart founder Sam Walton; she has three brothers, two of whom joined the company, unlike her. Art is her specialty. In 2011, she founded the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas – her hometown. Less than a month ago, Alice made headlines when she sold shares worth over $21 million in the Walton Family Holdings Trust, of which she is a trustee.Also read: The 10 richest people in the world in 2024

3. Julia Koch and family

• Age: 62
• Country: United States

Julia Koch and her three children inherited 42 percent of Koch Industries from her husband David when he passed away in 2019. Julie has made a name for herself as a philanthropist; the Julia Koch Family Foundation™ has donated $75 million to NYU Langone Health for a new, state-of-the-art outpatient care center in West Palm Beach.

4. Jacqueline Mars

• Age: 84
• Country: United States

Jacqueline Mars owns about a third of Mars, the candy, food and pet care company founded by her grandfather. She served on the company’s board for about two decades until she retired in 2016 and passed the reins to her son, Stephen Badger. Her known hobbies include owning a horse company in Virginia known for training horses that Olympic medalists ride.Also read: Top 10 richest people in India in 2024

5. Savitri Jindal and family

Savitri is the only Indian woman on the list of top 10 richest women in the world. She is the chairperson of the Jindal Group, which includes industries such as steel, power, cement and infrastructure. Notably, she inherited the position and wealth from her late husband, Jindal founder Om Prakash Jindal. Savitri has also been involved in politics and served as a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana. As of March 28, 2024, she and her son Naveen Jindal have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

6. Rafaela Aponte-Diamond

• Age: 79
• Country: Switzerland

Rafaela Aponte-Diamant owns a 50 percent share of MSC, the largest cruise line in the world, along with her husband, who owns the other 50 percent. Unlike most of the others on this list, she is a self-made woman, as the couple founded the company together. The cruise line’s leisure cruise arm is called MSC Cruises, and Rafaela is responsible for decorating the ships in this division.

7. Mackenzie Scott

• Age: 54
• Country: United States

During her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie received a 4 percent stake in the company. Immediately after the terms of the divorce were announced, she pledged to give away about half of her wealth and has already donated around $16.5 billion to nearly 2,000 charitable organizations. She is also an author and has published two books so far. Also read: The 10 richest people in Asia in 2024

8. Gina Rinehart

• Age: 70
• Country: Australia

Gina’s father, Lang Hancock, originally built Hancock Prospecting, a mining and farming company, but Gina rescued it from financial difficulties and rebuilt the company, becoming executive chairman in 1992. As it turns out, Hancock Prospecting is a major shareholder in MP Materials, a rare earth materials company that recently discussed a merger with Lynas Rare Earths.

9. Abigail Johnson

• Age: 62
• Country: United States

Abigail Johnson took over the company from her father in 2014 and became CEO of Fidelity Investments. She owns a 28.5 percent stake in the company. In particular, Fidelity recently invested in the Bitcoin spot ETF in the US, the instrument runs under the ticker symbol FBTC.

10. Elaine Marshall and family

• Age:82
• Country: United States

In 2006, Elaine Marshall and her two sons inherited her husband E. Pierce Marshall’s 16 percent stake in Koch Industries. According to various media reports, Marshall leads a low-key and quiet life in Dallas, Texas. Despite this lifestyle, the family made headlines when Marshall’s father-in-law, J. Howard Marshall, married 26-year-old Anna Nicole Smith, a former stripper and Playboy model, in 1994. He was 89 at the time. Her father-in-law was a former partner of Fred Koch, the founder of Koch Industries. Minority control passed from him to Pierce and then to the trust representing Elaine and her two sons. According to Forbes, her son, Preston Marshall, is a former director of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank co-founded by Charles Koch. The other son, E. Pierce Marshall Jr., runs the investment firm Elevage Capital Management.