At a time when European countries battle to remedy an income inequality that favours men, it may surprise many to find that some of Europe’s richest individuals are women. Without further ado, we look at the names with the largest wallets:
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken
At age 47, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken inherited a 23 percent controlling stake in Heineken from her father, whose own father had set up the beer company in the late 19th century.
At the time she was a stay-at-home mother of five, with no business education; now, she is an executive director of the organisation and her husband sits on its supervisory board.
JK Rowling
Joanne Rowling made her fortune writing the famous Harry Potter fantasy series. At the time she started the books she was a single mother living on state benefits.
Bet365 CEO Denise Coates has become the UK’s highest paid female boss, taking home 40 times the average salary of FTSE 100 CEOs
Rowling would go on to become the world’s first billionaire author – an accolade she eventually lost as a result of giving so much of her wealth to charity.
Tatiana Casiraghi
At the mere age of 34, socialite Tatiana Casiraghi has one of the largest fortunes in Europe and is fourth in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne.
In 2016, Forbes ranked Casiraghi in 722nd place on its world’s billionaires list, with a net worth of $2.4bn (€1.95bn).
Susanne Klatten
As of March, German heiress Susanne Klatten’s net worth stood at $25.1bn (€20.4bn), making her the 38th richest person in the world, as well as the richest woman in Germany.
Klatten inherited her wealth from her father; after his death, she inherited his 50 percent stake in Altana, a pharmaceutical and chemicals manufacturer. Klatten has strong business experience, with an MBA specialising in advertising.
Denise Coates
Through founding online gambling company Bet365, Denise Coates has become the UK’s highest paid female boss, taking home 40 times the average salary of FTSE 100 CEOs.
Coates started her career as a cashier in her father’s betting shops, eventually expanding it to almost 50 shops before putting all of the business online – a strategy that has seen the website become one of the largest online gambling firms in the UK.