Richest women in the world, ranked by net worth
Who is the richest woman in the world?
According to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, there are currently no women ranked in the top 10 richest people in the world. Today, the world's richest woman ranks at No. 11 overall, behind the likes of Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Larry Page.
And the list may soon be in flux since Bill and Melinda Gates announced they're divorcing after 27 years of marriage. Though the details of the divorce settlement have yet to be made public, Bill Gates is the fourth-richest man in the world, with a net worth around $149 billion, as of September 2021.
But until we learn more financial fallout from the Gates' split, here is the list of the 50 richest women on Earth.
Much of the world's wealth depends on a constantly fluctuating stock market; these were the rankings as of September 2021.
44. Nancy Walton Laurie
Net worth: $7 billion
Nancy Walton Laurie, the daughter of the late Bud Walton, inherited a portion of her father's Walmart stake when he died in 1995.
43. Shu Ping
Net worth: $7.1 billion
Shu Ping is a co-founder of the Beijing-based Sichuan-style hot-pot chain Haidilao.
The restaurant's name means "deep sea dredging" in Chinese.
42. Jian Jun
Net worth: $8.05 billion
This Chinese businesswoman's fortunes have grown incredibly quickly since her company made its debut on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in September 2020.
She is the chair of IMEIk Technology Development, a company that makes medical-grade beauty products like skin fillers.
41. Shari Arison
Net worth: $7.6 billion
Shari Arison is the owner of Arison Investments, a position she inherited when her father died in 1999.
Arison is the wealthiest woman in Israel.
40. Tatyana Bakalchuk
Net worth: $7.9 billion
A Russian entrepreneur of Korean descent, Bakalchuk is the CEO of Wildberries, Russia's largest retail site.
She is the first self-made woman billionaire out of Russia.
39. Elizabeth Johnson
Net worth: $8 billion
Elizabeth Johnson is the granddaughter of Fidelity Investments founder Edward Johnson II.
Her sister, Abigail, is currently the CEO of the company.
38. Ronda Stryker
Net worth: $8.1 billion
Ronda Stryker is an heir to the Stryker Corp. medical equipment manufacturing fortune.
Stryker has been a director of the U.S. company for more than 30 years.
37. Liz Mohn
Net worth: $8.15 billion
A German businesswoman, Mohn was married to Bertelsmann media magnate Reinhard Mohn until his death in 2009. Since 1999, Liz Mohn has played a leading role at Bertelsmann.
In 2009, she succeeded her late husband as the head of the company.
36. Tamara Hughes Gustavson
Net worth: $8.2 billion
Tamara Hughes Gustavson's late father was the founder and chairman of Public Storage.
She is the company's largest shareholder.
34 (TIE). Rahel Blocher
Net worth: $8.7 billion
Like her sister, fellow billionaire Magdalena Martullo-Blocher, Rahel Blocher owes her fortunes to an inherited stake in the family's chemical manufacturing company, Ems-Chemie.
Unlike her CEO sister, Rahel isn't actively involved in the company's operations.
34 (TIE). Taylor Thomson
Net worth: $8.7 billion
Thomson, a Canadian heiress, owns 14% of Woodbridge Company, a privately held investment firm based in Ontario.
The Thomsons are one of Canada's richest families.
33. Sandra Ortega Mera
Net worth: $8.8 billion
Sandra Ortega Mera's father, Amancio Ortega, founded the retail chain Zara in Spain.
Mera inherited a small, but valuable, share of Zara's parent company when her mother died in 2013.
32. Magdalena Martullo-Blocher
Net worth: $8.95 billion
Martullo-Blocher is the CEO of the Swiss chemical manufacturing company Ems-Chemie.
She took over the CEO role in 2004 when her father, Christoph Blocher, was elected to the Swiss Federal Council.
31. Blair Parry-Okeden
Net worth: $9.5 billion
American-born Blair Parry-Okeden inherited 25% of Cox Enterprises when her mother, Barbara Cox Anthony, died in 2007.
She was born and raised in Hawaii.
30. Christy Walton
Net worth: $10 billion
Christy Walton is the American widow of Walmart heir John T. Walton.
Walton inherited part of her husband's fortune when he died in a plane crash in 2005.
29. Marie-Helene Habert-Dassault
Net worth: $10.4 billion
Habert-Dassault's father was French billionaire and aerospace tycoon Serge Dassault. She and her three brothers inherited their father's wealth when he died in May 2018.
She served as president of the supervisory board of the family's Dassault Group conglomerate but stepped down in 2019.
28. Antonia Axson Johnson
Net worth: $10.9 billion
Antonia Axson Johnson is the fourth-generation chairperson of her family's company, Swedish retail and service industry giant Axel Johnson AB.
She holds a master's degree in psychology and economics.
27. Zhong Huijuan
Net worth: $11 billion
Zhong Huijuan is the chairwoman of Chinese drug manufacturer Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group.
Before getting into the pharmaceutical business, Zhong was a chemistry teacher.
26. Zhou Qunfei
Net worth: $11.3 billion
Zhou is the chairwoman and founder of major touchscreen manufacturer Lens Technology.
The youngest of three children from a poor family, she is considered to be self-made.
25. Wu Yajun
Net worth: $11.5 billion
Wu Yajun is the co-founder of Longfor Properties, a Beijing real estate investment company.
She started her career as a journalist.
21 (TIE). Valerie Mars
Net worth: $11.7 billion
Valerie Mars is the senior vice president of corporate development at U.S. food company Mars Inc.
She is also on the board of directors of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Her sisters are Pamela Mars-Wright, Marijke Mars and Victoria B. Mars.
21 (TIE). Pamela Mars-Wright
Net worth: $11.7 billion
Pamela Mars-Wright currently serves as the family's ambassador to the Mars Inc. pet-care division.
She is also a supervisory board member of Dutch brewing company Heineken International.
21 (TIE). Victoria Mars
Net worth: $11.7 billion
Victoria Mars is an heiress to the Mars Inc. fortune.
She served as the company's chairperson from 2014 until 2017.
21 (TIE). Marijke Mars
Net worth: $11.7 billion
Marijke Mars and her sisters each inherited an estimated 8% of Mars Inc. when their father died in 2016.
20. Savitri Jindal
Net worth: $12.9 billion
Savitri Jindal is the richest woman in India.
She married Indian steel and oil magnate O.P. Jindal in 1970. She became the chairperson of the Jindal Group when her husband died in 2005.
But it wasn't just industrial capital that Jindal inherited. She was also elected to her late husband's legislative seat in India's Haryana state and served from 2005 to 2014.
19. Sherry Brydson
Net worth: $14 billion
Sherry Brydson is among Canada's richest people. Through a private holding company, she is the controlling shareholder of Thomson Reuters Corp. Her grandfather, Roy Thomson, founded the Thomson Corp. in 1934.
Brydson also owns Viking Air.
17 (TIE). Fan Hongwei
Net worth: $15.8 billion
Fan is the chairwoman of Hengli Petrochemical Co., a Chinese research and development firm that produces polyester fiber products.
In this photo, an employee answers the phone in the company's lobby.
17 (TIE). Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken
Net worth: $15.8 billion
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken inherited a 25% controlling stake in Heineken International when her father died in 2002.
She is now an executive member of the Dutch company's board of directors.
16. Beate Heister
Net worth: $15.9 billion
Beate Heister's father, Karl Albrecht, founded the German discount grocery store chain Aldi.
She sits on the company's advisory board.
15. Vicky Safra
Net worth: $16.2 billion
Via her late husband, Safra and her family are guardians of the vast Safra fortune, which including banking interests in Switzerland and Brazil.
The portfolio also includes London's Swiss Re skyscraper, also known as the Gherkin.
14. Sara Mota de Larrea
Net worth: $17.3 billion
Sara Mota de Larrea is the widow of Jorge Larrea, the founder of mining company Grupo México.
Jorge Larrea had been known as Mexico's "copper king" until his death in 1999.
13. Gina Rinehart
Net worth: $17.9 billion
Gina Rinehart is an Australian mining heiress and chairperson of Hancock Prospecting.
Her father, who founded the company, died in 1992.
12. Iris Fontbona
Net worth: $20.1 billion
Iris Fontbona inherited her wealth when her husband, Andrónico Luksic Abaroa, died in 2005.
Fontbona is the wealthiest person in Chile.
11. Elaine T. Marshall
Net worth: $20.7 billion
Elaine T. Marshall holds an estimated 15% stake in Koch Industries.
She inherited the stake when her husband, E. Pierce Marshall, died in 2006.
10. Susanne Klatten
Net worth: $21.7 billion
Susanne Klatten is a German heiress.
Klatten inherited large stakes in many companies — including BMW and pharmaceutical manufacturer Altana — when her father died in 1982.
9. Laurene Powell Jobs
Net worth: $22.2 billion
Laurene Powell Jobs is the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
In 2004, she founded the Emerson Collective, an LLC that focuses on social justice issues and immigration reform.
8. Yang Huiyan
Net worth: $23.5 billion
Yang Huiyan of China is the wealthiest woman in Asia.
She received a majority stake in Country Garden Holdings, a real estate development company, from her father in 2007.
7. Miriam Adelson
Net worth: $25.3 billion
In January 2021, billionaire Sheldon Adelson died at 87. Now, his widow is listed as one of the richest women on earth.
In 2018, then President Donald Trump presented Miriam Adelson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony at the White House.
6. Abigail Johnson
Net worth: $26.3 billion
Abigail Johnson has served as the CEO of Fidelity Investments since 2014.
Her grandfather, Edward C. Johnson II, founded the company in 1946.
5. Jacqueline Mars
Net worth: $46.9 billion
Jacqueline Mars (center) is the daughter of Forrest Mars, Sr., and heiress to the Mars family fortune.
She's the aunt of the younger Mars sisters.
4. MacKenzie Scott
Net worth: $56.4 billion
MacKenzie Scott, formerly MacKenzie Bezos, joined Twitter on April 4, 2019 to announce that she would retain control of 25% of the former couple's shares in Amazon after her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Since then, she's donated billions to charity.
3. Julia Flesher Koch
Net worth (with family): $60.2 billion
Julia Flesher Koch was the richest woman in the world from 2019 to 2020.
Her husband, chemical engineering magnate and political donor David Koch, died in August of 2019.
2. Alice Walton
Net worth: $61.9 billion
Alice Walton is the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton.
She is an avid art collector and founded Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.
1. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers
Net worth: $89.1billion
French L'Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the richest woman in the world, according to Forbes.
She is No. 12 on the list of the world's richest people.