15 Of The Richest Women In The World

Life

5. Laurene Powell Jobs — $20,200,000,000 — Apple Inc

As you could’ve guessed from her last name, Laurene Powell Jobs is the widow of Steve Jobs, in addition to being the co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc. While she’s had a respectable career of her own, Laurene Powell’s wealth stems from what she gained when Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. After the death of her husband, Steve, Laurene inherited the Steven P. Jobs Trust, which had a 7.3% stake in The Walt Disney Company and around 38.5 million shares in Apple Inc.

Like many billionaires, Powell Jobs has spent a large portion of her life as a philanthropist. In 1997, Powell co-founded College Track, a nonprofit organization to help improve high school graduation rates and overall college enrollment.

4. Susanne Klatten — Altana, BMW — $22,800,000,000

To understand Susanne Klatten‘s wealth, you have to understand how her family acquired it. We all know that BMW is a thriving luxury car company, but this wasn’t always the case. Once on the verge of bankruptcy, Susanne Klatten’s father, Herbert Quandt, doubled down on his BMW shares and risked his own wealth to completely revitalize the company. In doing so, Herbert Quandt kept the luxury-car company afloat and earned himself a pretty penny in the process.

So, Susanne Klatten was born into money but tried to find her own footing in the world of business. In an interview, Klatten revealed that it was hard for her to make a name for herself away from her parents and often worked under the name “Susanne Kant” to hide how wealthy she was. Her family name was an issue when she was a teenager. There was an attempt to kidnap her in 1978. There was a brief controversy over Klatten’s family history when it came to light that her family was linked directly to the crimes that the Nazis committed during World War II.

After working for advertising agencies and a number of banks, Klatten inherited her father’s shares in BMW and Altana. While she inherited a fortune, it was Klatten’s own business sense that turned Altana into a billion-dollar company.

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