L’Oréal’s heiress, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, will retire from the French cosmetic company’s board later this year.
The move, announced Thursday alongside L’Oréal’s annual results, comes after Bettencourt Meyers spent 28 years on the board of the company her grandfather founded. She served the last five years as the board's vice chairwoman and owns a third of L’Oréal.
Following her departure, Bettencourt Meyers will pass on her vice-chair position to her son Jean-Victor Meyers, a director on L’Oréal’s board alongside his brother Nicolas Meyers.
The 71-year-old L’Oréal heiress also chairs the family’s investment company, Téthys, the largest shareholder in the cosmetics company. Her husband, Jean-Pierre Meyers, is the CEO.
Bettencourt Meyers has also proposed that Alexandre Benais, the deputy CEO of Téthys, take her spot on L’Oréal’s board to represent the family holding company. The decision will be up for a vote at the company’s annual general meeting.
Bettencourt Meyers was once the world’s richest woman, with her wealth briefly soaring past $100 billion in 2023 amid strong stock performance by L’Oréal. The pandemic helped drive shares up as people freely splurged with their lockdown-time savings.
But L’Oréal’s shares have struggled since then amid weaker demand for skin care and cosmetics, particularly in China. The company’s shares are down 25% in the last year.
That’s wiped billions from Bettencourt Meyers’ wealth. While she ceded the title of richest woman to Alice Walton, the heiress of the Walmart empire, Bettencourt Meyers is still worth $77 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Unlike many other billionaires, Bettencourt Meyers keeps her life private. She has written two books, one on the Bible and another on Greek gods, and is known to be an avid piano player, Bloomberg reported in December 2023.
Representatives at L’Oréal didn’t immediately return Fortune’s request for comment.
2025’s "beauty stimulus"
L’Oréal, which owns brands like Garnier, Maybelline, and Aesop, reported a 5.6% increase in 2024 sales of €43.48 billion ($45 billion) on Thursday.
Even as China’s lackluster appetite remains, North America has been a bright spot for L’Oréal—much as with other luxury companies. Its dermatological products, including those offered by CeraVe and La Roche-Posay, were key to L’Oréal’s growth.
CEO Nicolas Hieronimus wants to target emerging countries and the U.S. and expand L’Oréal’s market share in products for men and those over 60 in 2025.
“We expect growth to accelerate progressively, supported by our beauty stimulus plan, which will be driven by an exciting pipeline of new launches and continued strong brand support,” he said.
L’Oréal is also looking to home in on the intersection of beauty and tech, having launched a new device that can provide a detailed dissection of the skin’s needs.
“This will allow us to go ever faster and further in our conquest of new beauty spaces: geographic, demographic and highly promising technologies that offer innovative science-based beauty solutions to the consumer of tomorrow,” Hieronimus said.
