Alice Walton has once again been named the richest woman in the world, according to the latest ranking of female billionaires published by Forbes. The annual World’s Billionaires list estimates Walton’s net worth at $134 billion, placing her at the top of the global ranking of wealthy women for the second year in a row.
Walton, the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, first became the world’s richest woman in September 2024 after surpassing Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.
Bettencourt Meyers, heir to the cosmetics giant L'Oréal, now holds the second position among the world’s richest women with an estimated fortune of $100 billion. She is followed by Julia Koch, widow of industrialist David Koch, whose wealth is estimated at $81.2 billion.
The ranking also highlights that women still represent a relatively small portion of the world’s billionaires. Out of 3,428 billionaires globally, 481 are women, accounting for about 14 percent of the list. This marks a slight increase from 406 women (13.4 percent) recorded the previous year.
Iris Fontbona moved up to fourth place with an estimated net worth of $52.6 billion, overtaking Jacqueline Mars, heir to the Mars Inc. fortune, who now ranks fifth with $49.1 billion.
Among the top 10 richest women, the only self-made billionaire is Swiss shipping entrepreneur Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, whose fortune is estimated at $44.5 billion.
In total, 122 of the 481 female billionaires built their fortunes independently, a modest increase from 113 self-made women recorded the previous year. The next richest self-made woman is American entrepreneur Diane Hendricks, whose net worth is estimated at $22.3 billion.
Several well-known celebrities also appear on the billionaire list. Global music icon Beyoncé made her debut with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. Other self-made celebrity billionaires include Rihanna (about $1 billion), Sara Blakely ($1.4 billion), and Taylor Swift (around $2 billion).
Another new addition is Luana Lopes Lara, co-founder of the prediction market company Kalshi. At 29 years old, she has become the youngest self-made female billionaire, surpassing Lucy Guo, the 31-year-old entrepreneur behind Scale AI.
Meanwhile, Melinda French Gates and Marilyn Simons have fallen out of the top 10 richest women, replaced by Iris Fontbona and Zheng Shuliang, a Chinese billionaire who serves as vice chair of an aluminium company founded by her late husband.
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