BILLIONAIRE BETTENCOURT MEYERS TO RETIRE FROM L’OREAL BOARD
(Bloomberg) -- Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, heir to the L’Oreal SA fortune and Europe’s richest woman, will retire from the board later this year, with the next generation of family members taking on more responsibility for the cosmetics company’s governance.
Bettencourt Meyers, 71, will hand her role as vice-chairman to her son, Jean-Victor Meyers, 38, who is already a director, as is his younger brother, Nicolas. She will cede her board seat to Alexandre Benais, who heads Tethys Invest, the family’s investment vehicle.
Run by executives from outside the family for decades, L’Oreal was founded in 1909 by Bettencourt Meyers’ chemist grandfather, Eugene Schueller, to produce and sell a hair dye he had developed. Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Hieronimus has been at the helm since 2021.
The clan’s distance from day-to-day running of L’Oreal contrasts with the approach of the family of LVMH founder Bernard Arnault, who is CEO of the French luxury conglomerate, with his five children all holding key management roles.
L’Oreal’s biggest rival in the beauty business, Estée Lauder Cos., has also recently seen generational changes take hold. Ronald S. Lauder, son of the founder, is retiring from the board and will be replaced by his son-in-law Eric Zinterhofer, the company said in January.
The Bettencourt Meyers family owns a stake of about 35% in L’Oreal, valuing its wealth at about $76 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Shares in L’Oreal have erased about a fifth of their value in the past 12 months amid a demand downturn for cosmetics, particularly in China. In December 2023, Bettencourt Meyers briefly became the first woman in the world to amass a $100 billion fortune, which was a milestone for her and for France’s fashion and cosmetics industries.
The changes at L’Oreal are set to take effect after a shareholder vote at the company’s annual general meeting in April, the cosmetics company said in its earnings statement Thursday. The heiress has served on the board for 28 years.
The moves were announced as L’Oreal reported fourth-quarter sales that were below analysts’ expectations, with North America and the region including China both showing weakness. The company’s shares fell as much as 4.6% in Paris.
Bettencourt Meyers keeps her life private, shunning the glitzy social life sought by many of the world’s wealthy. She has written two books — a five-volume study of the Bible and a genealogy of the Greek gods — and is known for playing piano for hours every day.
Read more:L’Oreal Heir Becomes First Woman With $100 Billion Fortune World’s Richest Woman Hires McKinsey Partner for Family Firm |
(Updates with L’Oreal shares in eighth paragraph.)
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2025-02-06T18:42:59Z
