15 Of The Richest Women In The World

Life

13. Zhou Qunfei — Lens Technology — $10,400,000,000

Zhou Qunfei is the first woman on this list to have amassed her own fortune. The Chinese entrepreneur founded the touchscreen maker Lens Technology. The company was founded 11 years ago and has since dominated the market. Responsible for producing and selling touch panel cover glass, touch sensor modules, and touch panel covers, Lens Technology is worth an estimated $11.4 billion and employs more than 82,000 people around the world.

Shortly after quitting her job as a factory worker, Zhou Qunfei started her own company with about $3,000 to her name, Zhou started her own company in 1993. Her company was responsible for watch repair, and she involved herself in all parts of the company. In 2003, Zhou caught her big break when Motorola asked her company to develop glass screens for their Razr V3 in a time when most phones were using plastic screens. Zhou took the contract and started the touchscreen maker Lens Technology.

12. Massimiliana Landini Aleotti — The Menarini Group — $11,300,000,000

Massimiliana Landini Aleotti is an Italian billionaire who, along with her 3 children, operates one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The company, The Menarini Group, was founded in 1886. Since its creation, the company has become dedicated to searching for pharmacological solutions in areas such as cardiovascular diseases, oncology, pain/inflammation, asthma, and anti-infectives. The company has more than 13,000 employees around the world.

Massimiliana Landini Aleotti and her children inherited the Menarini Group from her husband, Alberto Aleotti, who died in 2014 at the age of 91. The company wouldn’t be worth as much as it is today without the hard work of Alberto, who began working for the company in the 1960s. Thinking he could do a better job of running the company, Alberto bought Menarini from the owners in the early 1990s.

Since inheriting the fortune, the Aleotti family has been accused several times by the Italian government of tax evasion. Though never officially found guilty, the investigation is ongoing to this day. In September 2016, Alberto’s children, Lucia and Alberto Giovanni, were sentenced to 10 and 7 years in prison, respectively, on charges of corruption and money laundering.

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