Top 10 Richest Women in The World – 2011

Top 10 Richest Women in The World – 2011

Can women be among the top niche of the society? Yeah, sure they can be and why not. Actually most of the time when the word “richest” flashes in our brains, we think of the tech-savvy Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, the male ones but women are also very rich and have cemented their place among one of the very wealthy persons in the world. Let us run down the list of the top ten richest women in the world.

10. Wu Yajun

Chief executive of real estate developer Longfor Properties, which she co-founded with husband Cai Kui, who shares fortune. Company went public on Hong Kong stock exchange in November 2009; cornerstone investors included Ping An Insurance, Temasek Holdings and Singapore's government. Has a degree in navigation engineering. Worked at Qianwei Meter Factory from 1984 to 1988; spent the next five years working as a journalist and editor at the China Shirong News Agency. Shortly after that, she began developing real estate in her hometown of Chongqing. Now her firm has property in Beijing and other large cities.

Unknown to many people, they are born wealthy and don’t have to earn their place among the list of richest persons of the world. There are others who have to work their way through to get the top a respectable position among the list world’s richest persons. Wu Yajun is among the second group who, from 1984 to 1988, worked at the Qianwei Meter Factory. From 1988 to 1993, Madam Wu worked as a journalist and editor with the China Shirong News Agency. After a lot of struggle she happened to be the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Longfor Properties Co., Ltd in September 2005. At the age of 47 her net worth is $5.5 Billion and she is a citizen of China. She is married and I must say that her husband is really a lucky person to have such a wife.

9. Georgina Rinehart

She was born at St John’s, Perth, Western Australia on 9 February 1954. She is the Chairman of Hancock Prospecting. She is a widow with four children and has a net worth of $9 Billion at the age of 57 years. Georgina is the richest woman in Australia.
Georgina Rinehart is breaking from the mold of ultra-wealthy heiresses by wielding her bank account for influence. Australia's richest individual (net worth of $9 billion), she is set to become the world's richest next year. She's investing heavily in a campaign against Australia's environmental reforms, including taxes on extractive industries like mining that have a heavy carbon footprint. In addition, she's attracting controversy for subsidizing the work of scientists who deny manmade climate change. Raised in Perth and educated in England, Rinehart came into her wealth in 1992 at the death of her father, mining legend Lang Hancock. Now in charge of the firm, Hancock Prospecting, she has used that control to speed up development of deposits and turn them into productive mines.

8. Maria-Elisabeth and Georg Schaeffler

Maria-Elisabeth and Georg Schaeffler are the owners of the Schaeffler Group, world’s largest producers of roller bearing. They are the nationals of Germany and the net worth of Maria-Elisabeth is around $9.8 Billion.Mother and son jointly own one of world's largest producers of roller bearings, $11.4 billion (revenues) INA Waelzlager Schaeffler KG. Maria-Elizabeth has headed the business since 1996 when her husband died, while son, Georg, practiced international business law in Dallas, Tx. Georg is now back at his mothers side helping her run the company. Made big news last year when they announced a $15 billion takeover of much larger Continental AG, one of Europe's largest tire and auto parts producers with $21 billion in sales. Now control 90% of Continental, whose shares have lost more than half their value since the takeover was announced. Faced with almost $30 billion in debt, mother and son are scrambling to find investors and pleading with state and federal governments for a tax funded bail out.

7. Jacqueline Mars

Grandfather Frank Mars began making chocolates from his kitchen in Tacoma, Wash. 1911. Father, Forrest Sr. (d. 1999), introduced malt-flavored nougat, which became foundation of candy bar line: Milky Way, Snickers, 3 Musketeers. Also: M&Ms, Twix, Skittles. Added pet food (Whiskas, Pedigree), Uncle Ben's Rice. Today Mars world's largest confectioner. Sales: $21 billion; pet food division now larger than candy by sales. Born on October 10, 1940, Jacqueline Badger Mars is the daughter of Forrest Edward Mars and granddaughter of Frank C. Mars. Both Edward and Frank were the founders of the American candy company Mars and her share in the company makes her worth $10 Billion. She is presently 71 years of age. I wish I could ask her for a carton of Mars chocolate.

6. Abigail Johnson

Her full name is Abigail Pierrepont Johnson and is an American businesswoman born on December 19, 1961. She is the President of the Fidelity Investments Personal and Workplace Investing. At present, at the age of 49 her net worth is around $11.3 Billion.Harvard MBA moving up the ranks in family's Fidelity Investments. This June "Abby" took charge of the company's board governing the investment company's fixed-income and asset-allocation funds. She now oversees 161 funds with more than $650 billion dollars of assets. She also continues to run the firm's retirement and retail group. Father Edward "Ned" Johnson III is Fidelity's chief executive; has no plans of retiring.

5. Savitri Jindal

She is an Indian steel baroness and ranks at number 44 in the world’s richest person countdown. She was born on 20th March, 1950 and is the Non-executive chairperson of the Jindal Steel and Power limited and JSW steel. She is also a member of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. At present, at the age of 61 her net worth is $13.2 Billion.

4. Anne Cox Chambers

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. James Sr. later moved into politics. Today Cox Enterprises includes Cox Communications cable company, 17 daily newspapers, 15 TV stations, 86 radio stations, Manheim auctions (cars) and AutoTrader.com. Revenues: $15 billion.

3. Birgit Rausing & family

This woman, Birgit Rausing, was born in 1924 and owes her fortune to her father-in-law as he was the founder of the Tetra Pak which revolutionized the packaging concept of liquids around the world. She inherited this fortune in 2000 after the death of her husband. Currently, her age is 87 and her net worth is around $14 Billion.

2. Liliane Bettencourt

She is a French businesswoman and is the principal shareholder of L’Oreal. She inherited all her fortune in 1957 and is the wealthiest woman in Europe. She is the only child of Eugene Schuellerm and is presently 88 years of age having a daughter also. Her net worth is around $23.5 Billion.

1. Christy Walton

I guess we all have heard about the Wal-Mart and Christy owns that. Christy Walton inherited a fortune of $15.7 billion from her late husband John T. Walton after his death in 2005. Wal-Mart has got around 5100 stores. The net worth of Christy is $26.5 Billion in present terms at the age of 56.