L'Oréal billionairess's â¬1bn gift: Because he's worth it?

L'Oréal billionairess's â¬1bn gift: Because he's worth it?

Liliane Bettencourt and François-Marie Banier had a defiant lunch alone this week in a mansion just west of Paris. Their friendship, unlikely to some, deeply suspicious to others, goes back more than two decades. Liliane Bettencourt, 87, is France's richest woman and the principal shareholder of the world's largest cosmetics company, L'Oréal. François-Marie Banier, 62, is a gay writer and photographer, who has befriended famous names from Salvador Dali to François Mitterrand and Johnny Depp.

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