World’s Richest Women 2012 – Women Billionaires

Forbes released the 2012 list  of billionaires, there are 21 women billionaires in the world. They have a combined total net worth of $248.6 billion.

Last year had 20 women billionaires in the world with combined fortune of $232 billion.

While the majority of their wealth was inherited – just one woman in the top 21 has a self-made fortune- -many are putting their money to good use in philanthropy.

1.Christy Walton, 57, & family

Net worth: $25.3 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Wal-Mart, U.S.

The widow of John Walton inherited her wealth after he died in an airplane accident in 2005. Repeating her 2010 title as world’s richest woman, she got an extra bump in her fortune because of her late husband’s early investment in First Solar; shares up nearly 500% since 2006 initial public offering.

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2.Liliane Bettencourt,89

Net worth: $24 billion - As of March 2012

Source: L’Oreal, France

France’s richest woman is heir to French cosmetic giant, L’Oreal, founded by her late father.

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3.Alice Walton, 62

Net worth: $23.3 billion -  As of March 2012

Source: Walmart, U.S.

The Wal-Mart heiress’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art set to open in Bentonville, Ark., this November. Her father, Sam Walton (d. 1922), a former clerk, founded original Bentonville store with brother James 1962. Today Wal-Mart has sales of $405 billion, employs more than 2.1 million people.

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4.Georgina Rinehart, 58

Net worth: $18 billion -  As of March 2012

Source: Mining, Australia

High iron ore prices and rising exports to China more than quadrupled her fortune in past years, but it was domestic issues that put her in the headlines. The Australian mining magnate’s fortune doubled to $18 billion thanks to a deal signed in January that will see South Korean steel giant Posco take a 15% stake in her yet-to-be-developed Roy Hill iron ore mine in Western Australia.

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5.Iris Fontbona, 69, & family

Net worth: $17.8 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Mining, Chile

Second wife, and now widow, of billionaire Andronico Luksic, who died of cancer in 2005. Family controls Antofagasta, one of the world’s largest copper miners.

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6.Birgit Rausing, 88, & family

Net worth: $14 billion  - As of March 2012

Source: Packaging, Sweden

After death of her husband Gad Rausing in 2000, inherited packaging giant Tetra Laval along with her three children. In 1944 her father-in-law founded the company, which revolutionized the packaging of liquids such as juices and milk.

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7. Jacqueline Mars, 72

Net worth:  $13.8 billion - As of March 2012

Source: Candy, pet food, U.S.

Cash-strapped consumers still have appetite for the Mars family’s nearly recession-proof products: chocolate (Snickers, M&Ms), pet food (Pedigree). Created world’s largest confectionery company by acquiring gum maker Wrigley in 2008 for $23 billion. Combined sales now exceed $30 billion.

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8. Susanne Klatten, 49

Net worth: $13 billion - As of March 2012

Source: BMW, pharmaceuticals, Germany

Inherited stake in automaker BMW from late father Herbert Quandt, who rescued it from bankruptcy in the early 1960s. A trained economist with an M.B.A., Klatten also inherited a 50% stake in chemical manufacturer Altana and has since increased her control of the company to 100% and delisted the firm.

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9. Anne Cox Chambers, 92

Net worth: $12.5 billion - As of March 2012

Source: Cox Enterprises, U.S.

Daughter of Cox Enterprises founder James M. Cox (d. 1957), who finished high school at 17 and worked as a schoolteacher and newspaper reporter before shelling out $26,000 for the Dayton Evening News in 1898.

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10. Savitri Jindal, 62

Net worth: $10.9 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Steel, India

Chairs $12 billion (revenues) O.P. Jindal Group, a steel and power conglomerate founded by her late husband Om Prakash Jindal, who died in a helicopter crash in 2005. In practice, however, it is her four sons–Prithviraj, Sajjan, Ratan and Naveen–who run the businesses.

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11. Abigail Johnson, 50

Net worth: $10.3 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Fidelity, U.S.

With father controls Fidelity Investments, America’s largest mutual fund company. Firm also boasts large brokerage business and insurance outfit. Father Ned joined his father’s company as analyst 1957, president 15 years later.

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12.Johanna Quandt, 85

Net worth:  $10 billion – As of March 2012

Source: BMW, Germany

Former secretary and third wife of the late Herbert Quandt, German executive who rescued auto maker BMW from bankruptcy. Retired from BMW’s supervisory board in 1997; still owns 17% of the $72 billion (sales) auto maker. Her children, Susanne Klatten and Stefan Quandt, have large stakes as well and are also billionaires. Lives quietly in spa town of Bad Homburg near Frankfurt.

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13. Laurene Powell Jobs & family

Net worth: $9 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Apple, Disney

The widow of Steve Jobs inherited her wealth after he died in October 2011. A fortune that was largely placed into living trusts near the end of her husband’s life.

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14. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, 57

Net worth: $7.7 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Heineken, Netherlands

Inherited 25% stake in Dutch brewer Heineken nine years ago from her late father, Freddy Heineken. Company has more than 170 premium brands in more than 65 countries. Mother of five, studied law at the University of Leiden.

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15. Miuccia Prada, 62

Net worth: $6.8 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Prada

Miuccia Prada, the granddaughter of company founder Mario Prada, runs Prada with her husband Patrizio Bertelli.

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16. Antonia Johnson, 68

Net worth: $6.5 billion - As of March 2012

Source: Diversified, Sweden

One of Sweden’s richest women. In 1982 succeeded her father as head of the Axel Johnson Group, a diversified trading company founded by her great-grandfather in 1873. The privately held $6.3 billion (sales) group has interests in everything from energy to telecom to real estate.

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17. Blair Parry-Okeden, 61

Net worth: $6.3 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Cox Enterprises, U.S.

Granddaughter of Cox Enterprises founder James M. Cox (d. 1957), Parry-Okeden inherited 25% stake in business after mother, Barbara Cox Anthony, passed away in 2007.

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18.Wu Yajun, 48, & family

Net worth: $5.7 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Real Estate, China

The richest self-made woman in the world is a former journalist. Wu graduated from the Department of Navigation Engineering of the Northwestern Polytechnical University in 1984, and from 1988 to 1993 worked as a journalist and editor with the China Shirong News Agency. Shares in Wu’s Hong Kong-listed real estate developer Longfor Properties rose by a quarter from a year earlier, and contract sales for 2010 soared 81% from a year earlier to $5 billion. From its roots in Chongqing in central China, Longfor has been expanding in relatively profitable markets in first-tier cites. Wu shares her fortune with her husband, who also holds a stake in the company.

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19. Yang Huiyan, 30

Net worth: $4.7 billion

Source: Real Estate

Her low-key dad, Yeung Kwok Keung, transferred his holding of the family’s main fortune, shares in family-controlled real estate developer Country Garden Holdings, to her ahead of the company’s Hong Kong IPO in 2007.

20. Rosalia Mera, 68

Net worth:  $4.5 billion – As of March 2012

Source: Zara

Rosalia Mera, co-founder of Inditex (parent company of Zara retail stores) with ex-husband Amanacio Ortega, remains Spain’s richest woman. Mera and Ortega are long-divorced, but she still holds a 5.8% stake in now $16.1 billion (sales) Inditex, plus a pile of cash from its 2001 IPO, which netted her $600 million at the time.

Source: Forbes Magazine