Business
Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World in 2021
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Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World in 2021
View the high-resolution of the infographic by clicking here.
According to a recent census by Wealth-X, 11.9% of global billionaires are women. Even at such a minority share, this group still holds massive amounts of wealth.
Using a real-time list of billionaires from Forbes, we examine the net worth of the 50 richest women in the world and which country they’re from.
Where are the World’s Richest Women?
The richest woman in the world, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and family own 33% of stock in L’Oréal S.A., a French personal care brand. She is also the granddaughter of its founder.
In April 2019, L’Oréal and the Bettencourt Meyers family pledged $226 million (€200 million) towards the repair of the Notre Dame cathedral after its devastating fire.
Following closely behind is Alice Walton of the Walmart empire—also the world’s richest family. Together with her brothers, they own over 50% of the company’s shares. That’s a pretty tidy sum, considering Walmart raked in $524 billion in revenues in their 2020 fiscal year.
Other family ties among the richest women in the world include Jacqueline Mars and her four granddaughters, heiresses to a slice of the Mars Inc. fortune in candy and pet food—and all of them make this list.
Rank | Name | Net Worth ($B) | Country |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family | $71.4 | 🇫🇷 France |
#2 | Alice Walton | $68.0 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#3 | MacKenzie Scott | $54.9 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#4 | Julia Koch & family | $44.9 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#5 | Yang Huiyan & family | $31.4 | 🇨🇳 China |
#6 | Jacqueline Mars | $28.9 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#7 | Susanne Klatten | $25.8 | 🇩🇪 Germany |
#8 | Zhong Huijuan | $23.5 | 🇨🇳 China |
#9 | Laurene Powell Jobs & family | $22.1 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#10 | Iris Fontbona & family | $21.0 | 🇨🇱 Chile |
#11 | Zhou Qunfei & family | $18.6 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong |
#12 | Fan Hongwei & family | $17.9 | 🇨🇳 China |
#13 | Gina Rinehart | $17.4 | 🇦🇺 Australia |
#14 | Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken & family | $17.1 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
#15 | Wu Yajun | $16.3 | 🇨🇳 China |
#16 | Abigail Johnson | $15.0 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#17 | Kirsten Rausing | $13.5 | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
#18 | Kwong Siu-hing | $13.0 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong |
#19 | Lu Zhongfang | $12.7 | 🇨🇳 China |
#20 | Wang Laichun | $12.7 | 🇨🇳 China |
#21 | Cheng Xue | $10.8 | 🇨🇳 China |
#22 | Massimiliana Landini Aleotti & family | $10.6 | 🇮🇹 Italy |
#23 | Denise Coates | $9.9 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
#24 | Lam Wai Ying | $9.1 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong |
#25 | Ann Walton Kroenke | $9.1 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#26 | Savitri Jindal & family | $8.7 | 🇮🇳 India |
#27 | Nancy Walton Laurie | $8.2 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#28 | Blair Parry-Okeden | $8.2 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#29 | Diane Hendricks | $8.0 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#30 | Christy Walton | $7.8 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#31 | Zhao Yan | $7.8 | 🇨🇳 China |
#32 | Zeng Fangqin | $7.6 | 🇨🇳 China |
#33 | Magdalena Martullo-Blocher | $7.5 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
#34 | Rahel Blocher | $7.4 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
#35 | Marie-Hélène Habert | $7.2 | 🇫🇷 France |
#36 | Pamela Mars | $7.2 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#37 | Victoria Mars | $7.2 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#38 | Valerie Mars | $7.2 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#39 | Marijke Mars | $7.2 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#40 | Sandra Ortega Mera | $7.1 | 🇪🇸 Spain |
#41 | Antonia Ax:son Johnson & family | $7.0 | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
#42 | Sofie Kirk Kristiansen | $6.9 | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
#43 | Agnete Kirk Thinggaard | $6.9 | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
#44 | Li Haiyan | $6.7 | 🇨🇳 China |
#45 | Ronda Stryker | $6.6 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#46 | Marie Besnier Beauvalot | $6.3 | 🇫🇷 France |
#47 | Zheng Shuliang & family | $6.2 | 🇨🇳 China |
#48 | Meg Whitman | $5.8 | 🇺🇸 United States |
#49 | Chan Laiwa & family | $5.8 | 🇨🇳 China |
#50 | Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala & family | $5.8 | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
All data as of January 15, 2021 (9AM PST)
MacKenzie Scott, ranked #3 on the list, was heavily involved in the early days of turning Amazon into an e-commerce behemoth. She was involved in areas from bookkeeping and accounts to negotiating the company’s first freight contract. Her high-profile divorce from Jeff Bezos captured the headlines, notably because she gained control over 4% of Amazon’s outstanding shares.
The total value of these shares? An eye-watering $38.3 billion—propelling her to the status of one of America’s richest people.
However, MacKenzie Scott has more altruistic ventures in mind for this wealth. In 2020, she gave away $5.8 billion towards causes such as climate change and racial equality in just four months, and is a signatory on the Giving Pledge.
[Scott’s near $6 billion donation has] to be one of the biggest annual distributions by a living individual.
—Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Looking towards the East, Yang Huiyan became the richest woman in Asia after inheriting 70% of shares in the property development company Country Garden Holdings. The company went public in 2007, raising $1.6 billion in its IPO—an amount comparable to Google’s IPO in 2004.
To aid frontline health workers during the pandemic, Country Garden Holdings set up robotic, automated buffet stations to safely serve medical staff in Wuhan, China.
Giving Generously
While the 50 richest women in the world have certainly made progress, the overall tier of billionaires is still very much a boys’ club. One thing that also factors into this could be the way this wealth is spent.
As many female billionaires inherited their wealth, a large share are more inclined to contribute to charitable causes where they can use their money to make an impact. What percentage of billionaires by gender have contributed at least $1 million in donations over the past five years?
Made $1mm in donations over last 5 years (%)
Source of wealth | 👩 Female philanthropists | 👨 Male philanthropists |
---|---|---|
Inherited | 68% | 5% |
Inherited/Self-made | 20% | 28% |
Self-made | 12% | 67% |
Source: Wealth-X
Meanwhile, male billionaires are more likely to donate to charity if they built the wealth themselves—and many companies that fall into this category certainly stepped up during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis.
Markets
Ranked: The Highest Paid CEOs in the S&P 500
This graphic reveals the top 20 highest paid CEOs in the S&P 500 from Sundar Pichai to Jamie Dimon.

Ranked: The Highest Paid CEOs in the S&P 500
Many of the world’s most valuable companies are listed on the S&P 500, the benchmark index for the U.S. stock market.
For this reason, it is no surprise to see that CEOs of these key companies have multi-million dollar compensation packages. But what do these pay packages comprise? And do these CEOs always receive the compensation they are awarded? Or does it increase and decrease with stock market fluctuations?
In today’s infographic, we use data published by The Wall Street Journal to show the highest paid CEOs of S&P 500 companies in 2022, and delve into what their compensation includes.
The 20 Highest Paid CEOs
The compensation packages of CEOs of S&P 500 companies comprise not just salaries, but bonuses, stock awards, and other incentives.
Here are the CEOs of S&P 500 companies that were awarded the highest pay packages last year, and the sectors they belong to.
CEO | Company | Sector | Total Pay |
---|---|---|---|
Sundar Pichai | Alphabet | Communication Services | $226M |
Michael Rapino | Live Nation Entertainment | Communication Services | $139M |
Tim Cook | Apple | Info Tech | $99M |
Peter Zaffino | American International Group | Financials | $75M |
Hock Tan | Broadcom | Info Tech | $61M |
Vicente Reynal | Ingersoll Rand | Industrials | $55M |
Reed Hastings | Netflix | Communication Services | $51M |
Theodore Sarandos | Netflix | Communication Services | $50M |
Hamid Moghadam | Prologis | Real Estate | $48M |
Stephen Squeri | American Express | Financials | $48M |
James Gorman | Morgan Stanley | Financials | $39M |
David Zaslav | Warner Bros. Discovery | Communication Services | $39M |
William McDermott | ServiceNow | Info Tech | $39M |
Mark Begor | Equifax | Industrials | $37M |
Darren W. Woods | Exxon Mobil | Energy | $36M |
David Simon | Simon Property Group | Real Estate | $36M |
James Dimon | JPMorgan Chase | Financials | $35M |
Julie Sweet | Accenture | Info Tech | $34M |
Albert Bourla | Pfizer | Medical | $33M |
Laurence Fink | BlackRock | Financials | $33M |
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, topped the list with an awarded pay package valued at around $226 million, which was over 800 times Google’s median employee compensation. His pay package included his annual salary of $2 million, a sum of $6 million for his personal security and stock awards valued at $218 million.
Meanwhile, Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino’s awarded pay package shot up to $139 million in 2022 from almost $14 million the previous year. This included stock awards initially valued at $116 million. Tech companies Apple and Broadcom were not far behind. While Apple CEO Tim Cook’s compensation package was valued at $99 million in 2022, Broadcom’s president and CEO Hock Tan was awarded $61 million.
Other CEOs that made it to the list include global insurance giant AIG’s CEO, Peter Zaffino, and Netflix’s co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings. While Hastings received a $10 million hike last year, he stepped down from this role in January 2023.
Rising Median CEO Income Hits a Wall
Over the last decade, the median pay awarded to CEOs across S&P 500 companies has doubled.
Year | Median Total Compensation for S&P 500 CEOs | Change (%) |
---|---|---|
2010 | $7.68M | n/a |
2011 | $7.56M | -2% |
2012 | $6.96M | -8% |
2013 | $7.95M | 14% |
2014 | $9.35M | 18% |
2015 | $9.72M | 4% |
2016 | $9.93M | 2% |
2017 | $10.62M | 7% |
2018 | $11.81M | 11% |
2019 | $12.20M | 3% |
2020 | $13.43M | 10% |
2021 | $14.67M | 9% |
2022 | $14.50M | -1% |
In 2021, this number hit a high of $14.7 million.
However, in 2022, the median CEO compensation package hit a wall for the first time in a decade as it slightly fell to $14.5 million.
Compensation Actually Paid
A compensation package dependent on market valuation means that these CEOs may receive more or less than the pay they are slated to receive.
This is because most stock awards aren’t granted when announced, but instead vest over time, becoming subject to changes in share prices.
In 2022, the SEC introduced new disclosure rules for companies to report this realized value for executive pay packages, appropriately called “compensation actually paid.”
CEO | Company | Total Pay | Compensation Paid |
---|---|---|---|
Sundar Pichai | Alphabet | $226M | $116M |
Michael Rapino | Live Nation Entertainment | $139M | $36M |
Tim Cook | Apple | $99M | N/A |
Peter Zaffino | American International Group | $75M | $91M |
Hock Tan | Broadcom | $61M | N/A |
Vicente Reynal | Ingersoll Rand | $55M | $51M |
Reed Hastings | Netflix | $51M | $50M |
Theodore (Ted) Sarandos | Netflix | $50M | $50M |
Hamid. Moghadam | Prologis | $48M | -$8M |
Stephen Squeri | American Express | $48M | $43M |
James Gorman | Morgan Stanley | $39M | $31M |
David Zaslav | Warner Bros. Discovery | $39M | -$41M |
William McDermott | ServiceNow | $39M | -$76M |
Mark Begor | Equifax | $37M | -$19M |
Darren Woods | Exxon Mobil | $36M | $90M |
David Simon | Simon Property Group | $36M | $30M |
James Dimon | JPMorgan Chase | $35M | $37M |
Julie Sweet | Accenture | $34M | N/A |
Albert Bourla | Pfizer | $33M | $6M |
Laurence Fink | BlackRock | $33M | -$6M |
The Wall Street Journal report revealed that many of the top-paid S&P 500 CEOs in 2022 received much smaller pay packages due to market fluctuations.
For example, Sundar Pichai ended up receiving about $116 million as the value of Alphabet’s stock dropped at the time that his grants vested. Similarly, Michael Rapino was paid almost $36 million, though his stock awards will continue vesting for another five years.
Barring Pichai, many of the names of the highest paid S&P 500 CEOs were eclipsed by CEOs of several energy companies, like Exxon Mobil and Chevron, whose stock prices shot up in 2022.
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