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How L’Oréal Is Using A.I. to Extend a Nearly $100B Family Fortune

As L’Oréal expands with OpenAI and Kering, the Bettencourt Meyers family is quietly transferring Europe's largest beauty conglomerate to a new generation.

More than a century after chemist Eugène Schueller turned a hair-dye formula into the business that became L’Oréal, the beauty giant is still finding new ways to grow, with A.I. as its latest bet.

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L’Oréal’s Revenue rose 6.3 percent on a like-for-like basis, a key retail metric, to €11.6 billion ($13.2 billion) in the April-June quarter. For the first half of 2026, revenue increased 5.8 percent to €23.78 billion ($27.1 billion), while net profit climbed 4.7 percent to €3.96 billion ($4.5 billion) and the operating margin reached 21.3 percent. Growth extended across every region and division, from Maybelline’s mass-market makeup to La Roche-Posay’s dermatological skincare and Kérastase’s salon-grade haircare.

CEO Nicolas Hieronimus credited that performance to e-commerce and L’Oréal’s innovation strategy, which now includes a partnership with OpenAI announced in June. “Our innovation engine is firing on all cylinders—and A.I. will help it maintain its pace,” he said in a statement accompanying the results.

Few investors have more riding on that momentum than Schueller’s descendants. His granddaughter, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, and her family own 34.79 percent of L’Oréal, making them the company’s largest shareholder. L’Oréal shares rose 3.6 percent to €397.15 in........

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