Who is Iris Fontbona?
Iris Fontbona is the Chilean billionaire who heads the Luksic family, owners of the copper miner Antofagasta plc and the Quiñenco conglomerate. Forbes’ real-time list valued her and her family at $42.78 billion on 20 October 2026, 47th in the world 1. Wikipedia describes her as the richest person in Chile 2.
How did Iris Fontbona make her money?
Through the business empire built with her late husband, Andrónico Luksic Abaroa, who died in 2005. The family controls Antofagasta, the London-listed copper miner, and Quiñenco, the Chilean group behind Banco de Chile, the brewer CCU and the shipping line CSAV. Forbes’ March 2026 list put the family at $52.6 billion, up from about $28 billion a year earlier, which Diario Financiero attributes to the family’s investments in Antofagasta Minerals 123.
Early life and education
Iris Balbina Fontbona González was born in 1942 or 1943, depending on the source, and is reported to be from Antofagasta in northern Chile. Her parents were Luis Fontbona Buxallen and Emma González Morales. She attended a Catholic high school and married Luksic, who was 15 years older, when she was about 20 12.
Antofagasta and Quiñenco
Antofagasta Minerals operates the Los Pelambres, Centinela, Antucoya and Zaldívar copper mines in Chile, and her son Jean-Paul Luksic chairs Antofagasta plc. Powerbase, citing El País and Bloomberg, reports that the family holds 83% of Quiñenco and more than 84% of the Croatian hotel group Plava Laguna 1. Read Iris Fontbona’s companies.
Family and giving
Her husband died in 2005. The sources reviewed disagree on the full list of her children, so this page names only Jean-Paul. In 2015 she gave CL$3.1 billion (about US$3.9 million) to the Chilean Telethon, a record at the time, and CL$4.4 billion in 2016 12. Read Iris Fontbona’s family.
Iris Fontbona net worth
Forbes put her at $42.78 billion in October 2026, about ₹4.0 lakh crore at ₹94 to the dollar, compared with $28.1 billion on its 2025 list 1. See Iris Fontbona net worth, our ranking of the top 50 richest people in the world and the wealthiest women in the world.