Forbes: Walmart heiress Alice Walton now the richest woman in the world

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Forbes recently announced that Walmart heiress Alice Walton is now the richest woman in the world.

The only daughter of the late Walmart co-founder Sam Walton, Alice has a reported net worth of $89.1 billion, according to Forbes.

Walton surpassed French L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt as the richest woman. Forbes data says Bettencourt was briefly the first centibillionaire and is now worth an estimated $88.4 billion.

The Walmart heiress is now the 18th-richest person in the world, as of September 7, just three spots behind her brother Rob Walton and four behind Jim Walton.

Forbes says Walton has poured more than $5 billion into charitable foundations. Walton was the chair of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas which she found in 2006 and opened in 2011.

“Over the past several years, I’ve founded new organizations focused on the arts as well as health and well-being,” Walton said in a news release announcing her retirement as chair of Crystal Bridges in 2021. “I’d like to focus more fully on my board chair roles at these entities.”

Her Art Bridges Foundation has spent $377 million acquiring and loaning out American art to over 230 museums through the United States since she launched it in 2016.

Walton is set to open the eponymous Alice L. Walton School of Medicine which plans to welcome its inaugural class to Bentonville in 2025.