- Walmart heiress Alice Walton is the richest woman in the US – and the world.
- With an estimated net worth of $47.9 billion, she ranks 13th on the Forbes 400.
- Alice Walton spends her vast fortune collecting art and breeding horses.
Alice Walton, the only female heiress to the Walmart fortune, is not only the richest woman in the US.
She’s also the richest woman in the world.
The 68-year-old has a fortune worth $47.9 billion, according to Bloomberg. That’s nearly $4 billion more than the second richest woman in the world – French heiress of cosmetics giant L’Oreal, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers.
Previously the richest woman in the world, Bettencourt-Meyers inherited the family’s fortune following the death of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt. Her net worth currently stands at $44.1 billion.
The three Walmart heirs - Rob Walton, Jim Walton, and Alice Walton - have a combined wealth of $145.5 billion. That's about $50 billion more than the second richest family in America, the Kochs, according to Bloomberg data.
Despite the Walton's high status, their personal lives remain largely private. Scroll through to find out what we know about how America's richest woman spends her fortune, from collecting expensive art to breeding horses.
Unlike her brothers, Rob and Jim, Alice has never taken an active role running Walmart and has instead become a patron of the arts. She fell in love with the arts at a young age. When she was 10, she bought her first work of art: a reproduction of a Picasso painting for $2.
Source: The New Yorker
She has an immense private art collection, with original works from legendary American artists, Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and Georgia O'Keefe.
Source: Business Insider
Alice opened a $50 million museum called Crystal Bridges in 2011 to house her $500 million private art collection. When it opened, it had four times the endowment of the famous Whitney Museum in New York.
Source: The New Yorker
In 2014, she spent $44.4 million on a Georgia O'Keefe. It was the most expensive work of art by a woman that's ever been sold. "Collecting has been such a joy, and such an important part of my life in terms of seeing art, and loving it,” Alice previously told the New Yorker.
Source: The Observer
Alice is also a breeder of horses. Her Millsap, Texas, property, Rocking W Ranch, recently sold for an undisclosed amount. It had an initial asking price of $19.75 million, but was most recently listed for $16.5 million. The working ranch has over 250 acres of pasture and outbuildings for cattle and horses.
Source: WilliamsTrev
Her other 4,416-acre Texas ranch was previously listed at a reduced price of $22 million. The modest three-bedroom, two-bath home overlooks a river.
Source: WilliamsTrew
Alice also owns a two-floor condo on New York's Park Avenue. She bought the property for $25 million in 2014. It has over 52 large windows overlooking Central Park and the city, a media room, and over 6,000 square feet of space.
Despite hailing from a largely Republican family, Alice donated $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Clinton and other Democrats, in 2016. The two women met while Clinton was serving as First Lady of Arkansas and was the only woman sitting on Walmart's board.
Source: Forbes
In January 2016, Alice donated 3.7 million of her Walmart shares — worth about $225 million at the time — to the family's nonprofit, the Walton Family Foundation. The charity most recently gifted $120 million to the University of Arkansas to establish a School of Art.
Source: Fortune, Philanthropy News Digest
Despite attempts to spend her fortune quietly, Alice became the target of pushback a few years ago from minimum-wage Walmart employees who view her lifestyle as insensitive and ignorant to the plights of many workers.
Source: NY Daily News
