A list of the richest women brings different routes to ownership into the same frame. Creating a company, inheriting shares and continuing to own part of a family enterprise can all lead to substantial wealth. Those routes should not be collapsed into a single story about success.
This ranking takes the women identified in Forbes’ real-time billionaire dataset and orders the first hundred by its estimated net worth. The amounts come from one captured edition. We keep the source’s family labels and links so readers can distinguish the published estimate from assumptions about the individual behind it.
Who is the richest woman in the world?
Alice Walton, with an estimated net worth of US$118.2bn, according to Forbes’ real-time list as captured on 12 September 2026.
The business behind the fortune
The source-of-wealth column is a useful starting point. An everyday purchase can connect to an enormous stake in retail, beauty, manufacturing or technology. The owner’s wealth is related to the value of that stake, not simply to the sales made by the business. A familiar brand and a less familiar shareholder can be two sides of the same commercial story.
Inheritance is not a complete biography
How an asset was first acquired does not tell us everything about how it is subsequently managed. Equally, inheriting an interest in a company is different from founding it. This list does not award entrepreneurial labels or infer who makes operational decisions. The linked profiles provide the context that an amount alone cannot carry.
A snapshot with visible limits
The dataset covers people Forbes identifies and estimates; undisclosed wealth cannot be ranked reliably. Private-company valuations and shared family holdings require judgement. We preserve the provider’s female classification rather than guessing from names or photographs. Positions here refer to this selected list, not the source’s overall billionaire ranks.
What this snapshot shows
Alice Walton leads this captured list at approximately US$118.22bn. The entry at number 100, Margarita Louis-Dreyfus & family, is approximately US$5.98bn. The first ten account for 35.7% of the sum of the hundred reported values. That share is calculated within this list; it is not a share of all global wealth.
The first ten
Alice Walton
Source of wealth: Walmart ·
Alice Walton’s net worth is about US$118.2bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Alice Walton is the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Her wealth connects to the retailer, but her public work has taken a different direction from running its stores. She founded the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, which opened in 2011.
The museum makes a useful contrast with the number in this ranking: the family business generated the fortune, while art and philanthropy became a distinctive part of how Walton uses it. Her medical-school initiative adds another institution to that work in her family’s hometown.
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family
Source of wealth: L'Oréal ·
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and family are worth about US$94.7bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the granddaughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller. The family’s holding in the beauty group connects her fortune to products sold across mass-market, professional and luxury channels. She inherited her mother Liliane Bettencourt’s position in that ownership story in 2017.
Forbes reports this entry together with her family. That wording matters: the estimate describes a family-linked fortune, not simply personal spending money. Her long service on L’Oréal’s board and work with the family foundation connect the business legacy with science, culture and philanthropy.
Julia Koch & family
Source of wealth: Koch, Inc. ·
Julia Koch and family are worth about US$84.6bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Julia Koch and her children inherited a substantial interest in Koch following David Koch’s death in 2019. The private group operates across businesses including industrial materials, energy and manufacturing, making this fortune less visible on a daily stock ticker than those tied to listed technology companies.
Forbes groups Julia Koch and her family in one entry. The family has also acquired interests in professional sports, but the central story remains ownership of a large private enterprise. Estimating that stake requires a different exercise from multiplying a public share price by a disclosed holding.
Jacqueline Mars
Source of wealth: Candy, pet food ·
Jacqueline Mars’s net worth is about US$50.3bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
The Mars name suggests confectionery, but the family company extends into pet food and veterinary services as well as snacks. Jacqueline Mars is a granddaughter of founder Franklin Mars and worked in the business before serving on its board.
Her entry illustrates how a privately held consumer business can create a fortune comparable with those built in public technology markets. Familiar products offer only a partial view: the company’s wider operations, and the family’s ownership of them, are what make the estimated stake so valuable.
Iris Fontbona & family
Source of wealth: Mining ·
Iris Fontbona and family are worth about US$48.4bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Iris Fontbona’s family fortune grew from the businesses built by Andrónico Luksic. Copper mining is a central connection through Antofagasta, whose operations include mines in Chile. The family also has interests through Quiñenco in businesses beyond mining.
This makes the entry a useful reminder that a natural-resource fortune is not simply a pile of metal waiting to be sold. It represents ownership of operating companies, infrastructure and other investments, with valuations affected by commodity markets as well as the performance of the businesses themselves.
Rafaela Aponte-Diamant
Source of wealth: Shipping ·
Rafaela Aponte-Diamant’s net worth is about US$45.4bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Rafaela Aponte-Diamant co-founded Mediterranean Shipping Company with her husband, Gianluigi Aponte, in 1970. A business that began with a single vessel grew into a shipping group connecting ports and supply chains around the world. Container shipping is the foundation of the wealth story.
The ships are the visible part of a larger transport network: schedules, terminals, customers and reliable connections all matter. Because MSC is privately held, the fortune reported here is an estimate of an ownership interest, rather than a holding that can be repriced continuously on an exchange.
Abigail Johnson
Source of wealth: Fidelity ·
Abigail Johnson’s net worth is about US$41.6bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Abigail Johnson belongs to the family behind Fidelity Investments, the financial-services group founded by her grandfather. Her career developed inside the company, whose activities include investment management, brokerage and retirement services. The business earns its place in daily financial life by managing the accounts and savings of other people.
The distinction between those customer assets and her own fortune is essential. This ranking estimates Johnson’s ownership and personal assets; it does not count Fidelity clients’ money as wealth belonging to the company’s owners.
Savitri Jindal & family
Source of wealth: Steel ·
Savitri Jindal and family are worth about US$39.8bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Savitri Jindal’s family is associated with the industrial group founded by her husband, O. P. Jindal. Steel is at the centre of the story, with related businesses in areas such as energy and infrastructure. Following his death in 2005, the family’s industrial interests continued through businesses led by the next generation.
Forbes lists her together with her family. The total therefore reflects a collection of interests rather than one salary or one factory. It shows the scale of wealth that can be built around the materials used in construction, manufacturing and transport.
Marilyn Simons & family
Source of wealth: Hedge funds ·
Marilyn Simons and family are worth about US$36.6bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Marilyn Simons is an economist and philanthropist who co-founded the Simons Foundation with her husband, mathematician and investor Jim Simons. His investment firm, Renaissance Technologies, became known for applying mathematical and statistical methods to financial markets.
The family’s philanthropic work supports research in mathematics and the sciences, giving this fortune a connection to both investing and discovery. Forbes reports Marilyn Simons and her family together. The estimate concerns their assets and interests, not the value of every investment managed for clients by a financial firm.
Melinda French Gates
Source of wealth: Microsoft ·
Melinda French Gates’s net worth is about US$34.5bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Melinda French Gates worked at Microsoft before becoming widely known for philanthropy. She co-founded the organisation originally called the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and later developed Pivotal Ventures, with a focus on opportunities for women and families.
Her move away from the foundation’s leadership in 2024 marked a new phase of independent giving. The fortune listed here is an estimate of personal wealth; philanthropic commitments and funds held by a charitable foundation are not interchangeable with an individual’s freely available assets.
The ranking continues: 11–100
Forbes · ranking and methodology
- Estimated net worth: US$32,902,779,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$32,239,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$30,431,064,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$27,794,249,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$25,638,864,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$25,567,387,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$25,373,761,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$25,364,278,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$23,578,200,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$21,960,374,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$19,880,218,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$17,372,751,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$17,318,072,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$17,232,660,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$16,905,085,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$16,756,799,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$16,381,559,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$15,502,788,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$15,500,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$14,430,666,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$14,022,976,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,848,135,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,593,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,593,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,593,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,593,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,511,519,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,473,637,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,408,805,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,012,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,892,584,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,760,874,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,723,755,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,654,013,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,640,288,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,577,768,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,564,625,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,480,896,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,478,160,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,199,371,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,042,747,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$10,712,543,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$10,206,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$10,021,800,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,627,200,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,256,555,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,125,555,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,983,215,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,827,083,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,625,232,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,611,462,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,440,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,437,016,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,308,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,239,991,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,192,231,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,192,076,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,123,946,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,116,934,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,098,616,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,037,506,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,925,743,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,774,499,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,671,471,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,588,800,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,579,900,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,560,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,502,885,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,493,616,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,445,567,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,437,945,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,365,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,362,975,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,267,500,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,024,350,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,986,277,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,706,973,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,552,537,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,523,810,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,523,810,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,523,810,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,523,810,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,463,609,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,400,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,352,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,225,319,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,133,564,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,093,271,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,027,157,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,979,543,000.00
There is always a story.
These fortunes show the scale of ownership held by women across the global economy. They also reward a careful reading: the company, the family wording and the valuation date explain far more than a rank by itself.