THE WORLD

178

WOMEN AND BILLIONS

THE WORLD'S RICHEST WOMEN: THE BILLIONAIRES

Photos from L to R: #1. Marilyn Carlson Nelson. #2. Maria Aramburuzabala. #3. Miuccia Prada.

#1. Marilyn Carlson. She runs one of the biggest privately held companies in America, Carlson Companies, which she took over as chairman and chief executive when her father, founder Curt Carlson died in 1999. Marilyn, 61, and her sister Barbara Carlson Gage each own half of the $31 billion (2000 sales) company. As a marketing, travel and hospitality company, Carlson has been hit by the economic downturn and Sept. 11 terror attacks. Marilyn, along with other travel executives, lobbied congress for a 100% tax deduction for business travel expenses. She's also been working to expand and modernize Carlson, spending $1 billion over four years on technology and integration. She also made the decision to sell the company's 25% stake in U.K.-based Thomas Cook for $1 billion. Carlson used the cash to buy a California-based Asian food restaurant chain called PickUp Stix. It's probably not a coincidence that Carlson Companies got national recognition for being a family-friendly place to work. It was named one of 100 best American companies for working mothers and one of the best companies to work for, period. That's not to say Marilyn is a creampuff, as she tells it exactly as she sees it. She told a Forbes reporter in 1999, "I believe more women have a choice not to work than are willing to admit it." #2. In a way, Maria Aramburuzabala's professional life resembles that of the late Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post. Like Graham, when Aramburuzabala's father died, nobody thought she could run the family beer and brewing company, Grupo Modelo. After all she is a woman in Mexico, where, as in this case, companies get passed on to sons-in-law if there is no male heir. But Aramburuzabala is anything but a wallflower. She told the Wall Street Journal in October, "It's important to me not to feel like a useless woman who inherited money." She's been anything but useless. After being on the job only a short time, she turned around Modelo's failing yeast company and made it profitable. In 2000 she made a move into television, outmaneuvering a rival for control of Grupo Televisa. She inherited a successful company--Corona beer has 60% share in Mexico and is the best-selling Mexican beer stateside--from her father but she's expanding into new areas. Now she's using her sizable fortune to bring Latin America up to speed technologically, investing in data centers and building high-speed networks in Mexico City. She meets with American tech executives and pours money into companies doing business benefiting Latin America. #3. Miuccia Prada inherited her grandfather Mario's luxury goods business in 1978, but remember that, at the time, the business consisted of just one store in Milan. And the store didn't sell ultra-trendy clothing or shoes--as it does today--but luggage. Within five years of taking over, Prada designed and started selling a line of shoes, and five years after that she launched a line of clothing. With the help of her famously hard-charging husband, Chief Executive Patrizio Bertelli, sales at Prada exploded from $50 million in 1990 to $1.5 billion in 2000. Prada isn't finished expanding. In December 2001, after three years and many millions of dollars, the company opened an enormous state-of-the-art retail store on a coveted corner in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood. But that's part of the problem. Retail expansion and acquisitions have resulted in an uncomfortable debt load of more than $500 million. The company had planned to sell its shares to the public last year, which would have eliminated debt and funded further expansion. But the economy and aftereffects of Sept. 11 have shelved the IPO plan indefinitely. Bertelli has reportedly acknowledged the need to restructure Prada's debt but insists they can do it without taking on an outside partner. That's Prada. Keeping it in the family.

Photos from L to R: #1.Abigail Johnson, #2. Nina Wang.

#1. Abby Johnson. At first blush, you might think Abigail "Abby" Johnson's employment with Fidelity Investments reeks of nepotism. Then you realize that Johnson, daughter of Chairman Edward "Ned" Johnson, has been a standout at the company since she started full time in 1988 as fund manager for the Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment portfolio. She managed several funds over the next 12 years; then came the big bump. On May 21, 2001, Fidelity named Johnson, 40, president of Fidelity Management and Research, which gives her oversight over all of Fidelity's portfolio managers, analysts and traders, along with $1 trillion in assets. She is without a doubt the most powerful woman in American finance. Rumors swirl that she will succeed her 71-year-old father, who has not yet hinted at a retirement timetable. Fidelity has no mandatory retirement age. But her chances of becoming Fidelity's next chief executive are as good as the sun coming up tomorrow. #2. Nina Wang. No one can say that tiny Nina doesn't think big. Late last year she tried to construct the world's tallest building, the Nina Tower, but the project was squashed because of its proximity to a local airport. Wang runs Chinachem, a Hong Kong-based real estate company she inherited when her husband Teddy was kidnapped in 1990. Teddy has never been found, but his father finally declared him dead in 1999, over the strenuous objections of Nina. Now that he's officially dead, the senior Wang, 90, is fighting his daughter-in-law for control of Chinachem, alleging that she forged a will that left her everything. Handwriting experts have determined that the will is genuine. Wang has launched a few zingers herself, including allegations that her father-in-law has a mistress and uses opium. The two continue to battle it out in court. Meanwhile Wang, worth $3.7 billion, has expanded privately held Chinachem's business far beyond real estate to biotechnology and satellite systems. She's the richest woman in Asia but reportedly isn't interested in the social scene. Instead, she wears her hair in Pippi. Data: Forbes./WACJ.

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