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Nicolas Meyers
Status
Born in 1988. Living in France.
Criminal status: No convictions
Summary
Nicolas Meyers is the younger son of Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the world's second-richest woman, and Jean-Pierre Meyers. The family controls approximately 35% of L'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics company, through the Téthys holding company.
Nicolas has served as a director of L'Oréal since 2020 and as a director of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, the family's philanthropic foundation, since 2012. He maintains a deliberately low public profile.
Business Relationships
Nicolas Meyers serves on the L'Oréal board alongside his brother Jean-Victor Meyers, who became Vice-Chairman of L'Oréal's board in April 2025 following Françoise's retirement from the board.
At the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, the Foundation collaborates with leading French research institutions including Inserm and CNRS. Nobel laureate Emmanuelle Charpentier serves as patron of the Foundation's Impulscience program since its launch in 2022.
Ownership
Through Téthys, the family's holding company and L'Oréal's largest shareholder (approximately 35% stake), the Bettencourt-Meyers family exercises significant influence over L'Oréal's governance. Nicolas has served on the Supervisory Board of Téthys SAS since 2011 and on the Supervisory Committee of Téthys Invest since 2016.
As a member of L'Oréal's Audit Committee since 2021, he participates in oversight of the group's financial reporting, internal controls, and risk management. He also chairs Lille Capital SAS, a personal investment vehicle.
Family & Heirs
Nicolas Meyers was born in November 1988 to Françoise Bettencourt Meyers and Jean-Pierre Meyers, the grandson of a rabbi murdered at Auschwitz. He and his brother Jean-Victor were raised Jewish, reflecting a deliberate cultural choice by their parents.
Their mother Françoise is the only child and heir of Liliane Bettencourt (1922–2017), herself the daughter of Eugène Schueller, founder of L'Oréal. Following a 2011 French court ruling that placed Liliane under guardianship due to Alzheimer's disease, control of the Bettencourt estate passed to Françoise and her two sons. His brother Jean-Victor serves as Vice-Chairman of L'Oréal's board since 2025.
Evidence
2015-04-13 - 😇 - Fondation Bettencourt Schueller awarded EUR 1.9M in life sciences prizes to six biomedical researchers across neuroscience, immunology, and cell biology
2022-11-22 - 😇 - Fondation Bettencourt Schueller launched Impulscience, awarding its first EUR 2.3M five-year grants to seven life-sciences researchers
2023-11-21 - 😇 - Fondation Bettencourt Schueller awarded 2023 Impulscience prizes to seven life-sciences researchers, each receiving EUR 2.3M over five years
2024-10-08 - 😇 - Fondation Bettencourt Schueller named Ensemble Correspondances laureate of its 2024 Prix Liliane Bettencourt for choral singing
2025-11-12 - 😇 - Fondation Bettencourt Schueller named Opera Junior de Montpellier laureate of its 2025 Prix Liliane Bettencourt for choral singing
Analysis
The public record for Nicolas Meyers is primarily philanthropic and channeled through his board seat rather than personal initiative. The Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, where he has served as a director since 2012, has supported more than 1,400 projects and 676 recipients since 1987. Its Impulscience program, launched in November 2022, commits EUR 2.3M per researcher over five years and has awarded grants to seven or more researchers every year since, most recently in December 2025.
The foundation runs two further annual prizes on a similar model: the Prix Liliane Bettencourt pour l'Intelligence de la Main for French artisans, awarded since 1999, and the Prix Liliane Bettencourt for choral singing, awarded since 1989. The foundation's 2019 Notre Dame pledge placed the family among the leading donors to France's most prominent cultural restoration effort.
He maintains a deliberately private profile. His documented influence operates through board governance — at L'Oréal, the family foundation, and Téthys — rather than through public pronouncements or independent personal ventures.
Questions
Nicolas Meyers' influence is difficult to assess independently from that of his mother Françoise and his brother Jean-Victor. The Fondation Bettencourt Schueller's decisions are led by Françoise, who chairs the board. His personal role in shaping foundation priorities remains distinct from his formal board membership, and public records speak to governance rather than individual judgment.
Redemption Arc
His track record consists of governance participation and foundation philanthropy. The foundation's life sciences and cultural programs represent meaningful positive impact. Whether he will take on a more visible leadership role as the family's next generation assumes greater responsibility remains to be seen.