The world’s richest woman in 2025 worth £76bn and owner of huge £18m apartment | World | News
Forbes has just named the world’s richest woman, and it’s no longer French L’Oréal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers as it was in 2024. According to the magazine, just 13.4% of the world’s billionaires are women, and both Alice Walton and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers have been trading the top two spots for years. Bettencourt Meyers saw her net worth decline after a 20% drop in L’Oréal shares, driven largely by sluggish sales in China and has recently announced her retirement as vice chair of the company.
In June 2025, Bettencourt Meyers became the first woman to hit an estimated net worth of £75.5 billion, but by September, she was overtaken by Alice Walton. With a massive fortune of about £76.3 billion, Alice Walton is the richest woman on the planet and the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton.
Forbes said she grew her fortune to £21.6 billion thanks to a big 40% surge in Walmart’s stock.
Walton inherited a large stake in Walmart, and the company’s continued success has increased the value of her shares.
She is considered to the the 15th richest person in the world and her brother Rob Walton and his family is in 11th position while Jim Walton and his family is the 12th richest person in the world.
She also recently bought an incredible £18 million luxury apartment in New York City, a unit with 6,346 square feet of space.
This is comprised of five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a grand staircase, and 52 windows with panoramic views of the city.
However, while her wealth stems from the retail giant, Walton has dedicated much of her life to the arts and founded the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in her hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas, which shows works the likes of Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and Georgia O’Keeffe.
Julia Koch, widow of industrialist David Koch (d. 2019), and Jacqueline Mars, heir to the Mars confectionery empire, continue to hold the third and fourth positions amongst the wealthiest women in the world.
Out of the top ten wealthiest women, the only self-made billionaire among them is Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, according to Forbes.
She is the Swiss cofounder of MSC.
Other self-made women that made the charts include Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift, whose net worth skyrocketed by 45% over the past year, thanks to the record-breaking success of her Eras Tour, which became the highest-grossing tour of all time with a huge £1.5 billion.
