Record number of women enter Forbes billionaire list

• profit.ndtv.com
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• March 4th, 2014

The list of self-made women billionaire includes Sheryl Sandberg, who is the chief operating officer of Facebook.Photo by: Photo: Reuters

A record number of women have entered the billionaire club this year. According to Forbes, 172 women joined the billionaire list this year, up 25 per cent from last year. Women represent nearly 10 per cent of the total 1,645 billionaires who made into the Forbes list.

Forbes magazine announced its 2014 ranking of the world's billionaires on Monday.

(See: Meet the super-rich)

Walmart heiress Christy Walton reclaimed her spot as the richest woman with a $36.7 billion fortune. The widow of John Walton, who was the son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, had topped the world's richest women list for four out of the last five years, according to Forbes.

In the second spot was L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, worth $34.5 billion, according to Forbes. Ms Bettencourt is also France's richest person.

The third richest woman is another Walmart heiress, Alice Walton ($34.3 billion).

Overall, 268 newcomers made into the Forbes 2014 list of billionaires and out of that 42 are women.

According to Forbes, only five of the 42 women in the list built their own fortunes as opposed to inheriting them. The list of youngest self-made women billionaire includes Sheryl Sandberg ($1.05 billion), who is the chief operating officer of Facebook. The social networking firm's share price has surged over 100 per cent in the past 12 years.

A list of the top 10 female billionaires in the world

1. Christy Walton (Wal-Mart) $36.7 billion

2. Liliane Bettencourt (L'Oreal) $34.5 billion

3. Alice Walton (Wal-Mart) $34.3 billion

4. Jacqueline Mars (candy) $20 billion

5. Gina Rinehart (mining) $17.7 billion

6. Susanne Klatten (BMW, pharma) $17.4 billion

7. Abigail Johnson (Fidelity Investments) $17.3 billion

8. Anne Cox Chambers (Cox Enterprises) $15.5 billion

9. Iris Fontbona (mining) $15.5 billion

10. Laurene Powell Jobs (Apple, Disney) $14 billion (With Agency Inputs)