Forbes lists 70 richest moms

Having children isn't a barrier to making $1 billion, as eight women on a new list of the world's richest mothers can attest.

The list, compiled by forbes. com, reveals the 70 women around the globe who will celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday as billionaires.

Of the 70 billionaire-moms, only eight built their vast fortunes on their own, compared with 555 self-made billionaires who are fathers, according to forbes.com.

Margaret Whitman, 53, known as Meg, built her fortune of $1.3 billion as the former executive chief of online auction house eBay Inc. The mother of two sons is now a candidate to replace California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"For Whitman, motherhood was not a deterrent to her success, but an aid," Forbes said on its website.

Other self-made millionaires on the list include Rosalia Mera, who, along with her former husband, launched the Spanish clothing firm Zara; Doris Fisher of the clothing giant The Gap; and Guiliana Benetton of the Italian firm Benetton.

Writer JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, also made the list of self-made billionaires along with Elena Baturina of Russia, who made her fortune in construction, and Zhang Xin, CEO of the Chineseproperty development company SOHO China, and Yan Cheung, who runs Nine Dragons Paper.

Savitri Jindal, Asia's richest woman and the widow of the founder of steel and power conglomerate OP Jindal Group in India, has nine children, the most of any woman billionaire.

The rest inherited fortunes from fathers or late husbands, including the world's richest woman and mom, Christy Walton, the widow of John Walton, who was the son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She tops the list with $22.5 billion.

Christy is followed by Liliane Bettencourt, 87, of France, whose father founded the cosmetic giant L'Oreal, and Birgit Rausing, the 86-year-old widow of the Swedish creator of packaging giant Tetra Laval.

But being a billionaire mom - or, for that matter, the child of a billionaire mom - isn't always easy, forbes.com said.

Bettencourt and her daughter have reportedly been off speaking terms as a result of Bettencourt's patronage of a younger companion, an artist her daughter alleges accepted more than $1 billion in gifts from the heiress.

In a legal complaint, Bettencourt's daughter is dubious of her mother's judgment in spending her wealth. Liliane denies the allegations, but she has still been ordered to undergo psychological testing before a July trial.

Source: Global Times