The history of L'Oreal and the billionaire family behind it

She died in September 2017, and the former heiress of the L'Oréal imperium (the first fortune of France) Liliane Bettencourt would have been 100 years old by now. She accompanied the development and internationalization of the famous cosmetics group and left a considerable heritage and a healthy business to her heirs.

However, the Bettencourt family also experienced major upheavals at the end of Liliane's life. Here is an overview in pictures of the history and future of one of the biggest dynasties of French capitalism.

Born in 1922, Liliane Bettencourt was the only daughter of Eugène Schueller, founder of the French Society of Harmless Hair Dyes, which would later be renamed L'Oréal. Of humble origins, the trained chemist embarked on an entrepreneurial adventure in the early 1900s, destined to be crowned with success.

Cleverly using advertising and taking advantage of the growing enthusiasm for hygiene products and cosmetics, Schueller developed L'Oréal very quickly during the interwar period. His daughter succeeded him at only 35 years old after his death in 1957.

Liliane Bettencourt took her first steps in the family business at an early age. She was able to support its growth and internationalization without becoming overly involved in day-to-day management.

Born Schueller, Liliane married André Bettencourt in 1950, and he joined the management of L'Oréal. At the same time, he managed to lead a post-war political career and become a minister several times under the presidencies of Charles De Gaulle and Georges Pompidou. Yet, revelations about his past eventually forced him to leave the management of L'Oréal in the early 1990s.

Fearing a hostile takeover or nationalization, L'Oréal entered into a partnership with the Swiss Nestlé in 1974. It held 30% of the French cosmetics group from that date. The two companies have grown together for several decades, especially by multiplying acquisitions.

Liliane Bettencourt also grew the company by calling on talented managers from outside the family circle. François Dalle, Lindsay Owen-Jones (in the photo), Jean-Paul Agon, and now Nicolas Hieronimus have succeeded in making L'Oréal present in all corners of the planet and the world leader in the cosmetics market.

As a logical consequence of this entrepreneurial success, Liliane Bettencourt was for a long time the first multimillionaire of France and the richest woman in the country from 1980 to her death. Forbes claimed that she was also the richest woman in the world in 2017 with an estate valued at 39.5 billion dollars.

But the last years of her life were marked by darker affairs. First of all, the Woerth-Bettencourt affair was revealed in 2010, in which her name was mixed up with that of Éric Woerth (in the photo), then-minister of Nicolas Sarkozy. Allegedly, there was a conflict of interest in the politician's dealing with L'Oréal. All the political protagonists in the case were either dismissed or have been acquitted.

However, the most talked-about affair was undoubtedly that of the links between Liliane Bettencourt and the high society photographer François-Marie Banier. Her daughter Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers accused Banier in court of abusing Liliane's fragile state. She referred to donations and gifts totaling almost one billion euros that her mother had made to the photographer.

For Françoise, there was no doubt that Banier had taken advantage of her mother's state to obtain donations in the form of money or master paintings. But after several years of conflict, the mother and daughter formalized their reconciliation at the end of 2010: the heiress dropped all legal proceedings and François-Marie Banier agreed to no longer receive donations from Liliane Bettencourt.

The Banier-Bettencourt case is probably related to the guardianship of Liliane, pronounced at the end of 2011. The billionaire had lost her husband André in 2007 and was said to be losing some of her wits.

On the death of her mother, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers inherited a considerable fortune. It resulting entirely from the long development of the L'Oréal group. In 2022, the family heritage amounted to more than 62 billion euros. Françoise became the richest woman in the world, ahead of the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos.

The only daughter of André and Liliane Bettencourt married Jean-Pierre Meyers in 1984. He's the grandson of a rabbi who died in deportation to Auschwitz, and he became the vice-president of the board of directors of L'Oréal in 1994.

Raised in Catholicism, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers wrote several works of biblical exegesis and analysis of the relationship between Christianity and Judaism.

L'Oréal and Nestlé did not renew their partnership after the death of Liliane Bettencourt. The Swiss giant sold part of its shares to the family. In 2020. Now, the cosmetics group was controlled for up to a third by the Bettencourt-Meyers family.

Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers and Jean-Pierre Meyers had two sons together: Jean-Victor, born in 1986, and Nicolas, born in 1988. The succession at the head of the group is therefore assured!

Jean-Victor is already an experienced businessman. Director of L'Oréal since 2012, replacing his grandmother Liliane, he co-founded Exemplaire in the same year; a company specializing in the manufacturing of leather and travel goods. There is no doubt that the family saga in the world of luxury and fashion will continue for a long time!