Wednesday, July 29, 2009

10 Richest Women In The World

Millions matter not in a world where the wealthiest are measured in many billions.
In its inaugural ranking of the world’s richest people 20 years ago, US-based Forbes magazine uncovered some 140 billionaires. Just three years ago it found 476. This year the list stretches to a record 793. Their average net worth is $3.3 billion (£1.7 billion) and 78 of them are women - 10 more than in 2005, though only six are self-made.
Oprah Winfrey, Athina Onassis, the Queen and JK Rowling do not make the girls' top 10. Here's who does...

10. Cristina Green
Cristina Green
Mrs Green may derive some of her wealth from husband Philip's retail empire, Arcadia, but I bet she's earned it. And as the only Brit in the top 10 richest women and the only one with self-made cash, she deserves our applause. Their $7 billion (£3.7 billion) fortune makes the Greens the 74 richest people in the world and they like to protect their cash from the taxman by living in Monaco. Arcadia Group is Britain's third-largest clothing retail group and includes high street favourites Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge. Green also owns 94% of BHS, the country's 10th-largest clothing retail chain. Together, the companies have sales of $4.7 billion (£2.5 billion).

9. Susanne Klatten
Susanne Klatten
More inherited money in ninth place as Ms Klatten, 43, scooped up $8.1 billion (£4.3 billion) via a 12.5% stake in BMW cars and a 50% stake in pharmaceutical manufacturer Altana from her late father, Herbert Quandt. A trained economist with an MBA, Klatten is credited with helping transform Altana into a world-class pharmaceutical/chemical corporation with $3.6 billion (£1.9 billion) in sales and almost 11,000 employees.

8. Jacqueline Mars
acqueline Mars
Jacqueline Badger Mars is the daughter of Forrest Edward Mars, Sr., and granddaughter of Frank C. Mars, founders of the giant American candy company Mars, Incorporated. With her share of the company, she is worth US$14.0 billion as of September 2007 she is the 58th richest person in the world, and the 19th richest person in the United States according to Forbes, she's also the fourth richest American woman. She is divorced.

7.Barbara Cox Anthony
Barbara Cox Anthony
Barbara Cox Anthony (1922 – May 28, 2007) was the youngest daughter of James M. Cox, a Democratic governor of Ohio, newspaper publisher and broadcaster. With her sister Anne Cox Chambers and brother James M. Cox, Jr., she inherited, via a trust, ownership and control of her father’s company, now called Cox Enterprises. Upon her brother's death in 1974, the sisters received his share of the company equally.

Her net worth was estimated at $12 billion, based principally on her equity interest in Cox Enterprises which made her one of the richest women in the United States and the richest resident of Hawaii

6. Anne Cox Chambers
Anne Cox Chambers
Anne Cox Chambers (born December 1, 1919) is a billionaire media proprietor. She is the daughter of James M. Cox, a newspaper publisher and 1920 Democratic Presidential nominee, and his second wife, Margaretta Parler Blair. She owns and controls her father's business interests, through Cox Enterprises. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Her sister, Barbara Cox Anthony, died on May 28, 2007.

An alumna of Finch College and a generous financial supporter of the Democratic Party, she was President Jimmy Carter's pick as United States Ambassador to Belgium from 1977 to 1981.

Her net worth has been estimated at $13 billion,[1] based principally on her equity interest in Cox Enterprises, which makes her the fourth richest woman in the United States.

5. Abigail Johnson
Abigail Johnson
Abigail Pierrepont Johnson (born December 19, 1961) is an American businesswoman. Johnson is President of Fidelity Investments Personal and Workplace Investing. Fidelity is led by her father, Edward Johnson.

In September 2008, her net worth was estimated at US$15 billion, tying her for 15th place in Forbes List of the 400 Richest Americans. (Her father, with $11 billion, is tied for 28th place.)

She is the 35th richest person in the world, though her current net worth has decreased to US$10 billion. Her father is tied for 62nd place with US$7 billion.

4. Helen Walton
Helen Walton
Helen Robson Kemper Walton (December 3, 1919 – April 19, 2007) was the wife of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She was the eleventh richest American and at one point the richest woman in the world. Helen died with an estimated net worth of $16.4 billion[1] that will pass to charity over the next few years.

Helen was the valedictorian of her high school class in Claremore, Oklahoma and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma at Norman with a degree in business. She was the daughter of L.S. Robson, a prosperous banker and rancher. She and Sam were married February 14, 1943.

Sam Walton (d. 1992) left his ownership in Wal-Mart to his wife and their four children, S. Robson Walton (Rob), John T. Walton (d. 2005), Jim Walton, and Alice Walton. Rob Walton chairs the board of directors of Wal-Mart, on which John served until his death. The others are not directly involved in the company except through their voting power as shareholders.

3. Alice Walton
Alice Walton
Alice Louise Walton (born October 7, 1949 in Newport, Arkansas)[1] is an American heiress to the Wal-mart fortune. She is the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and Helen Walton, and sister of S. Robson Walton, and Jim Walton. Another brother, John Walton died in a 2005 plane crash. In 2009, her estimated net worth was US$18 billion, making her the richest woman in the world along with her sister-in-law Christy Walton.

2.Christy Walton
Christy Walton
Christy Ruth Walton is the wife of late John T. Walton. After his death in June 2005, she inherited his fortune of $15.7 billion [1]. As of March 2009, she is the 12th richest person in the Forbes World's Billionaires [2], with an estimated net worth of US$17.6 billion.

She currently resides in Jackson, Wyoming. She has one son, Lukas.

1. Liliane Bettencourt
Liliane Bettencourt
Liliane Bettencourt (born 21 October 1922(1922-10-21) in Paris, France) is a French heiress, socialite, and businesswoman. She is the principal shareholder of L'Oréal and the wealthiest woman in Europe. She is the second richest person in France, behind Bernard Arnault whose wealth is estimated at US$16.5 billion, and she ranks 21st in wealthiest people in the world. Forbes magazine estimated her wealth in 2009 at US$13.4 billion.[1]

Bettencourt was the only child of Eugène Schueller, the founder of L'Oréal, one of the world's leading cosmetics and beauty companies. In 1927, her mother died when Liliane was 5 years old.

In 1950, she married French politician André Bettencourt and lived in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France together until Andre's death in November 2007. They had one daughter, Françoise, who married Jean-Pierre Meyers, the grandson of a rabbi who died in an Auschwitz concentration camp. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is a member of L'Oréal's board of directors.

In 1957, Bettencourt inherited the L'Oréal fortune from her father. She is the principal shareholder of L'Oréal. The company ownership breakdown: 27.5% by Liliane Bettencourt, 26.4% by Nestlé, the remaining 46.1% are publicly traded.

She created the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, which awards the "Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences" to a European researcher under the age of forty-five.

Bettencourt claims to have lost money in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. She is known to have invested a part of her fortune with Madoff through hedge fund adviser and investor René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

largest and heaviest women on the planet

Standing at 6ft 6ins and weighing 34 stone, this woman has been dubbed a modern-day giant - and, alarmingly, she is still growing.

Tanya Angus, who suffers from a rare growth condition, is already one of the tallest and heaviest women on the planet.

Now doctors say she is the only woman in the world whose growth cannot be halted by medication.
largest and heaviest women on the planet
Living tall: Tanya Angus towers over her mother, sister and stepfather thanks to a rare growth condition

Suffering from a rare disease known as Acromeglia, a condition often referred to as 'gigantism', (which means her body is producing too much growth hormone), Tanya rocketed from a slender 5ft 8ins at the age of 18 to a massive 6ft 6ins and 34 stone.

'I'm staying hopeful,' says 30-year-old Tanya, from Nevada, USA.

'Without hope you don't have anything. I hope they can stop me growing one day so I can try to live as normally as possible.'

Tanya's troubles began in her late teens when she noticed that her feet, face and figure were continuing to grow at an alarming rate.

'I started to feel unhappy with my appearance. I started spending a fortune on make-up, trying to make myself look better. I couldn't understand why my face didn't look as attractive any more,' she said.

largest and heaviest women on the planet
Tanya, now living with her half-sister, finds it difficult to walk - but won't give up hope

Tanya also began suffering severe migraines and felt run down and depressed, as if she was suffering from constant flu.

But though she kept going to see her GP, he believed the 20-year-old was just an attention-seeker hoping to be given anti-depressant drugs, and refused to help.

Even more shockingly Tanya's figure started to alter. Her once-womanly body became larger overall, and straight up and down - like a man's.

'Someone at work actually asked me if I used to be a man,' she said.

'My voice had also changed and become deeper. I was devastated and started to feel very shy and insecure.'

Things finally came to a head when her own boyfriend also asked her about her new shape, and got his mum to ask her whether she'd had a sex change.

'I was heartbroken and I decided I didn't want any more to do with him,' she said. 'I phoned my mum and said I wanted to come back to Nevada.

'As soon as my sister saw me at the airport, she knew I'd changed, and she called my mum and told her we needed to see a doctor.'

The family GP immediately recognised the signs of gigantism and referred Tanya to a specialist. At that stage she was 6ft 1ins tall, and a size 14 to 16, with a size 10 feet.

An MRI scan eventually showed a tumour the size of a grapefruit in her brain which had wrapped itself around her inner carotid artery, causing an overproduction of growth hormone.

It was so big, doctors at first said there was nothing to be done.

But Tanya's mum Karen, EMT-1 medical professional and firefighter, searched the Internet and medical publications until she finally found a doctor who said he could operate.

In 2003, she Tanya finally underwent surgery to remove most of the tumour, although small parts of it were too difficult to separate from her brain. She was then given a cocktail of drugs to try to control the huge amounts of growth hormones still in her body.

Tanya had a count of 3,000 of the hormones, compared to an average person's of just 250. Doctors were anxious to bring the level down to less than 1,000, but they were barely able to do that. Her height had crept up to 6ft 3ins, and she was now a size 20.

Unable to walk properly, she had to live with her mother and stepfather. She barely went out and was subjected to stares and make rude comments in the street.

'It was horrible,' she said. 'My whole life had to change, and I couldn't do anything for myself any more.

'The hardest thing is that people kept thinking I was man, and calling me sir, which really annoys me. I try to dress in feminine clothes and wear make-up to look nice, but it's really hard when you're my size.'

Two years later in 2005, the hormone levels again began to soar, and Tanya's mum sought out a second specialist who discovered the tumour had grown again and was now the size of an orange.

largest and heaviest women on the planet
Tanya with her many bottles of medication - and still doctors cannot find the combination of drugs that will stop her growth

She underwent further surgery, and fat from her stomach had to be used to pad out areas of brain tissue from where the tumour had been removed.

Tanya was put on another set of medication to reduce the growth hormone, but her levels have never sunk to below 900 and are now over 1,000. She is now one of the world's tallest women, and also one of the heaviest.

Then two years ago, Tanya also suffered a stroke, caused by the pressure her massive body was putting on her heart. She had to learn how to walk and talk again, and now suffers hearing difficulties.

She recovered and went to live with her sister, but still struggles to get around, and now uses a wheelchair.

'Doctors just say there is nothing we can do for her,' said Karen. 'You don't know how many doctors we have called to try and help us. We've spent all our savings, over $200,000 (£122,300) trying to help her.

'One doctor even told me that my daughter had only two months to live. That was eight months ago, but I refused to believe it.

'I won't stop until we can find something to halt the growth.'

Now Tanya has a new doctor, who she's been seeing for three months, and he is hopeful of finally finding a drug combination to slow down her growth.

'I'm doing this story because I want people to understand why I'm this way,' she says. 'It's not my fault I ended up like this.

'People even in my home town are still so hurtful, and I'd like people to be educated so they can treat me as a real person at last.'