Alice Walton is the world's richest woman — and just joined the $100 billion club
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- Alice Walton just joined the $100 billion club.
- The Walmart heiress has become $30 billion richer this year thanks to the retailer's surging stock.
- She recently replaced L'Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers as the world's wealthiest woman.
Alice Walton is the newest member of the $100 billion club.
The Walmart heiress' net worth has soared by $30.1 billion this year to hit $100 billion at Tuesday's market close, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The surge reflects a 54% rise in Walmart's stock price this year to record highs above $80.
She and her two brothers — Jim Walton, worth $103 billion, and Robson Walton, worth $101 billion — rank among the 20 richest people on the planet, and among the 10 biggest wealth gainers this year.
The daughter of retail icon Sam Walton leapfrogged the L'Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers to become the world's richest woman earlier this year.
Bettencourt Meyers — the granddaughter of Eugène Schueller, who founded the French cosmetics giant — has seen her wealth shrink by $10.8 billion this year to $88.8 billion, reflecting a 15% decline in L'Oréal shares since January.
It was a different story at the end of last year when Bettencourt-Meyers was worth $100 billion and Walton $70 billion.
Bettencourt Meyers now ranks 20th on Bloomberg's rich list while Walton sits at 18th, just behind her brothers.
The siblings each own more than 11% of Walmart, assuming their father evenly divided his shares in the company between his four children. Bloomberg estimated that they've each garnered more than $15 billion from stock sales and dividends since 1992.
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Meanwhile, Bettencourt Meyers holds about 35% of the world's largest cosmetics company, which owns brands including Garnier and Maybelline. She inherited the stake from her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, who died in 2017.
Crossing the $100 billion mark means Alice Walton now belongs to an elite group of fewer than 20 centibillionaires that includes Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.
Walton and Bettencourt Meyers are two of several heiresses near the top of Bloomberg's list, including Jacqueline Badger Mars and Abigail Johnson, whose grandfathers founded Mars and Fidelity Investments, respectively.