The 21 Self-Made Women Billionaires of 2013

The Self-made Women
Billionaires of 2013

© 2013-2013 Candice Chua www.candicechua.com

1. Rosalia Mera
Net worth:

$6.1 Bn

Company: Zara
Country: Spain

Getty Images

 Mera is now the wealthiest self-made
woman on the planet, thanks in part
to a 50% jump this past year in the
value of Inditex, the fashion retailer
she co-founded with her ex-husband
Amancio Ortega, the world’s third
richest man. She dropped out of
school at age 11 to work as a
seamstress, then helped Ortega
make dressing gowns and lingerie in
their home. The couple has long
been divorced, but she still has a
stake in the company, best known for
its Zara brand. These days she is also
an investor in causes dear to her
heart: a marine fish farming group, a
company that looks for cancer
treatments in products from the
ocean, a maker of a fingerprinting
system for newborns and London's
exclusive Bulgari Hotel. Her Paideia
Foundation works to integrate
people with physical and mental
disabilities, like her son Marcos, into
larger society.

2. Wu Yajun
Net worth:

$4.3 Bn

Company: Longfor
Country: China

Imaginechina

 A former journalist, Wu
started property developer
Longfor in 1994. She and her
team turned it into a national
brand and it's now
headquartered in
Beijing. She was previously
China's richest woman, but
her divorce last year knocked
her from the top spot.


3. Chan Laiwa
Net worth:

$4.1 Bn

Company: Fu Wah
Country: China

Imaginechina

 Chan was born a poor
descendant of Chinese royalty
but is now one of the selfmade female billionaires in
the world. She also has a
place on the 2012 Forbes Asia
list of Asia's most powerful
women. Her Fu Wah
International Group is one of
Beijing's largest real estate
developers, having developed
nearly 1.5 million square
meters of property since its
inception in 1988.


4. Diane Hendricks
Net worth:

$3.8 Bn

Company: ABC Supply
Country: USA

Diane Hendricks

 She started ABC Supply, now
the nation's largest roofing,
window and siding wholesale
distributor, with her husband
Kenneth and took over when
he died in 2007. In addition
to ABC, Hendricks presides
over 25 million square feet of
commercial property and 25
smaller companies via
Hendricks Holdings.


5. Zhang Xin
Net worth:

$3.6 Bn

Company: Soho China
Country: China

Getty Images

 Zhang and her husband Pan
Shiyi founded Soho China in
Beijing in 1995, and have
continued to aggressively buy
up real estate in Beijing and
Shanghai, transforming the
cities' skylines. It is now
Beijing’s largest property
developer. Prior to founding
Soho China, Zhang worked on
Wall Street for Goldman
Sachs and Travelers Group.


6. Doris Fisher
Net worth:

$2.8 Bn

Company: The Gap
Country: USA

REUTERS

 She started the Gap with her
late husband Donald in 1969
as a San Francisco jeans and
music store. These days she’s
known as a prolific art
collector and philanthropist,
who has donated $120 million
to the KIPP charter school
network and Teach For
America.


7. Oprah Winfrey
Net worth:

$2.8 Bn

Company: Harpo
Country: USA

AP

 The majority of Oprah's net
worth stems from 25 years of
her profitable daytime TV
show, plus earnings from her
Harpo production company,
which has a hand in the Dr.
Phil, Rachael Ray and Dr. Oz
shows.


8. Marion Ilitch
Net worth:

$2.7 Bn

Company: Ltttle Caesar’s
Country: USA

Newscom

 $2.7 billion, U.S./PizzaWith
her husband Michael, Ilitch
built a single pizza shop into
the Little Caesar's Pizza
chain, which had over $3
billion in revenues last year.
(Shares fortune with
husband).


9. Lynda Resnick
Net worth:

$2.2 Bn

Company: various
Country: USA

Getty Images

 Since the 1970s master
marketers Lynda and Stewart
Resnick have built or bought
companies including POM
Wonderful, Fiji Water and
flower delivery service
Teleflora. They also own
pistachio, almond and citrus
farms, plus a winery. (Shares
fortune with husband).


9. Giuliana Benetton
Net worth:

$2.0 Bn

Company: Benetton Group
Country: USA

AP

 Benetton formed clothing
retailer Benetton Group with
her siblings in 1965. Giuliana
originally knitted sweaters
that her brother Luciano
would peddle by bicycle; they
were sold under a variety of
labels before becoming
United Colors of Benetton.


11. Peggy Cheng
Net worth:

$2.0 Bn

Company: Panda Express
Country: USA

Panda Express

 Peggy, a Ph.D. in computer
science, left a software
development career (3M and
McDonnell Douglas) to help
her husband Andrew launch
Panda Express, a fast casual
Chinese food restaurant in
the second-largest mall in Los
Angeles County. She served as
CEO from 1998 to 2004; now
the couple, who share the $2
billion fortune, run the $1.6
billion (2011 sales) business,
which operates 1,500
restaurants, as co-CEOs.
(Shares fortune with
husband).

12. Judy Faulkner
Net worth:

$2.0 Bn

Company: Epic Systems
Country: USA

Getty Images

 Faulkner founded fastgrowing electronic health
record software company
Epic Systems in 1979. The
company pulled in $1.5
billion revenues in 2012. More
than 40% of the U.S.
population will have its
medical information stored in
an Epic digital medical record
by 2013. Clients include many
of the country's top hospitals,
including the Cleveland
Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and
Cedars-Sinai. Faulkner largely
shuns the press and leads a
modest lifestyle.

13. He Qiaonv
Net worth:

$2.0 Bn

Company: Beijing Orient
Country: China

Imaginechina

 He Qiaonv chairs Beijing
Orient Landscape, one of
China's largest landscape and
interior design companies.
She bought 500,000 shares in
Beijing Orient between
November and January, and
holds almost 54% of its
ownership. Husband Tang Kai,
the company's vice chairman,
holds 11%.


14. Chu Lam Yiu
Net worth:

$1.9 Bn

Company: Huabao
International Holdings

 The second youngest selfmade female billionaire in
the world, she chairs Huabao
International Holdings, a
giant producer of flavorings
in China.

Country: China

Imaginechina


15. Meg Whitman
Net worth:

$1.9 Bn

Company: Ebay / HP
Country: USA

AP

 Now the chief executive
officer of HP Whitman
,
earned most of her fortune
over the decade she spent as
CEO of eBay, transforming it
from a tiny company to one
with $7.7 billion in revenues.


16. Elaine Wynn
Net worth:

$1.7 Bn

Company: Wynn Las
Vegas

 With now-ex-husband Steve,
she helped found and run a
casino empire that reaches
from Las Vegas to Macau.

Country: USA

WireImage


17. Xiu Li Hawken
Net worth:

$1.5 Bn

Company: Renhe
Commercial Holdings
Country: China

Imaginechina

 With her brother, the London
resident runs Chinese real
estate investor Renhe
Commercial Holdings, which
as of mid-2012 operated 22
(mostly underground) malls in
15 cities across the country.
She is married to Tony
Hawken, a teacher.


18. Elena Baturina
Net worth:

$1.1 Bn

Company: Inteco
Country: Russia

Getty Images

 Wife of Moscow's former
mayor made a fortune in
construction. She is Russia's
wealthiest woman, although
she has not been living in the
country for the last two
years.


19. Yan Cheung
Net worth:

$1.1 Bn

Company: Nine Dragons
Country: China

Imaginechina

 Daughter of a Guangdong
Province army officer and
eldest of eight children, Yan
got her start importing waste
paper in Hong Kong in 1985.
After a stint running a
recycling plant in the U.S.,
Yan returned to China to
launch Nine Dragons (whose
name implies "highest
fortune") with her husband
and brother.


20. Sara Blakely
Net worth:

$1 Bn

Company: Spanx
Country: USA

Spanx

 Blakely became the youngest
self-made female billionaire
in the world in 2012 thanks to
the success of Spanx, her
reinvention of the girdle. In
November 2012 she started
rolling out the shapewear
brand's first standalone retail
stores at upmarket malls on
the east coast.


21. Tory Burch
Net worth:

$1 Bn

Company: Tory Burch
Country: USA

WireImage

 Queen of the $200 ballet flat
Tory Burch joins this year's
Forbes Billionaires list thanks
to the incredible growth of
her preppy-bohemian
womenswear brand, which
brought in $800 million in
revenues in 2012.


Sources
 (2013) Forbes.com, “In Photos: The Self-Made Women
Billionaires of 2013”, retrieved 15 Dec 2013 from
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/emeg45gedi/rosaliamera-3/


The 21 Self-Made Women Billionaires of 2013

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Dernier

Dernier (20)

En vedette

En vedette (20)

The 21 Self-Made Women Billionaires of 2013