--- title: This Walmart Heiress Is Now the World's Richest Woman description: Walmart heiress Alice Walton has become the world's richest woman following the death of Liliane Bettencourt. authors: - name: Mahita Gajanan url: https://money.com/author/mahita-gajanan/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 53 covers: - Business - Banking - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Housing - Identity Theft - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://x.com/mahitagajanan former_staff: true published: '2017-09-21T19:06:11.000Z' modified: '2017-09-21T19:06:11.000Z' section: Business tags: - Net Worth - onetime word_count: 234 canonical: https://money.com/worlds-richest-woman-alice-walton/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![American Federation of Arts Gala & Cultural Leadership Awards 2016](https://img.money.com/2017/09/gettyimages-620188228.jpg) *NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 01: Alice Walton attends American Federation of Arts Gala & Cultural Leadership Awards 2016 at Metropolitan Club on November 1, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)* Walmart heiress [Alice Walton](http://fortune.com/2015/09/17/walmart-alice-walton-ranch/) has become the world's richest woman following the [death of Liliane Bettencourt](http://www.loreal.com/media/news/2017/september/the-passing-of-mrs-liliane-bettencourt), the heiress to the L'Oréal cosmetic company. L'Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon announced Bettencourt's death Thursday. "We all had a great admiration for Liliane Bettencourt who always looked after L'Oréal, the company and its employees, and was very attached to its success and development," Agon wrote in a statement. "She has personally contributed greatly to its success for many years. Mrs Liliane Bettencourt was a great lady of beauty who has left us and whom we will never forget." At the time of her death at age 94, Bettencourt was [worth about $39.5 billion](http://fortune.com/2017/03/21/10-richest-women-world-2017/), according to *Forbes*. Bettencourt captured headlines in 2007 when her daughter filed a lawsuit asserting that her mother had been swindled by Francois-Marie Banier, a society photographer 25 years younger than the L'Oréal heiress. Banier was accused of taking advantage of Bettencourt's frailty to take about $1.4 billion in cash and fine art, among other gifts. Banier, who denied the allegations, was convicted of exploiting Bettencourt and sentenced to three years in jail, a sentence that was later reduced by six months, the [New York *Times* reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/world/europe/liliane-bettencourt-dead-loreal.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur). The passing of Bettencourt moves the 67-year-old Walton, the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, up one rank to take the title of the richest woman in the world. 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