Alice Walton, the youngest child of Sam Walton and heiress to the Walmart fortune, has surpassed L'Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers as the world's wealthiest woman, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
As of Sept. 3, Ms. Walton is worth $96.9 billion for the first time, according to the index, a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people across industries. She is No. 17 on the index while Ms. Bettencourt Meyers is No. 19 with a total net worth of $90.6 billion.
Ms. Walton's change in net worth — up $26.9 billion year to date — comes as Walmart's shares have surged more than 40% so far in 2024, according to Fortune. Ms. Walton sits behind her two brothers Rob Walton and Jim Walton, at $97.6 billion and $99.9 billion, respectively.
According to Fortune, Ms. Bettencourt Meyers became the first woman to reach a total net worth of $100 billion late last year and held the title of world's wealthiest woman for a few months. If Ms. Walton passes the $100 billion mark, she'll join other centibillionaires such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Ms. Walton's philanthropic work includes healthcare. For example, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, which was financed by Ms. Walton's nonprofit Whole Health Institute, plans to admit its first cohort into the four-year medical degree program in 2025, subject to accreditation approval.
Thomas Frist Jr., MD, who co-founded Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare with his father in the 1960s, remains the wealthiest individual in the healthcare sector on the Bloomberg index, with a total net worth of $34.2 billion.