These Are the World’s Richest Families (2024)

↓

1

Walmart is the world’s largest retailer by revenue -- $573 billion from more than 10,500 stores worldwide. The Walton family owns 47% of the retailer, a stake that’s the foundation of the world’s largest fortune.

Did you know?
Rob Walton, daughter Carrie and son-in-law Greg Penner bought the Denver Broncos for a record $4.65 billion this summer.

↑

2

Frank Mars began selling molasses candies in 1902 at the age of 19. The business he went on to create is best known for M&Ms, Milky Way and Snickers bars, though pet-care products make up about half of the company’s almost $45 billion in revenue. The closely held business is owned by members of the Mars family.

Did you know?
Mars is the world’s biggest provider of petcare products and veterinary services.

↑

3

Brothers Frederick, Charles, David and William inherited father Fred’s oil firm. A fraternal feud over control of the company in the early 1980s led Frederick and William to leave the family business while Charles and David stayed. It has since grown into Koch Industries, a conglomerate with annual revenue of about $125 billion. The family manages a portion of its wealth through family office 1888 Management.

Did you know?
Koch Industries unit Matador Cattle Co. sold a 340,000-acre Montana ranch to Rupert Murdoch last year for $200 million.

↑

4

The 90-year-old monarchy for which Saudi Arabia is named can credit the nation’s unrivaled oil reserves for seeding its collective fortune. This net worth estimate is based on cumulative payouts royal family members are calculated to have received over the past 50 years from the Royal Diwan, the executive office of the king. The total wealth controlled by its estimated 15,000 extended members is likely much higher. Many royals have made money through brokering government contracts and land deals and by founding businesses that service state companies, such as Saudi Aramco. The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund PIF has $620 billion in assets. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally controls assets worth more than $1 billion.

Did you know?
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud was an early backer of Elon Musk’s bid to take Twitter private.

↓

5

The sixth-generation family owns the French luxury fashion company famous for its Birkin handbags, which can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Among the family members who maintain senior positions at the company are Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the artistic director, and Chief Executive Officer Axel Dumas.

Did you know?
Hermes’s operating-profit margin soared to a record 42% in the first half of the year.

↓

6

Dhirubhai Ambani, the father of Mukesh and Anil, started building the precursor to Reliance Industries in the 1950s. When Dhirubhai died in 2002 without leaving a will, his widow brokered a settlement between her sons over control of the family fortune. Mukesh is now at the helm of the Mumbai-based conglomerate, which owns the world’s largest oil refining complex. He lives in a 27-story mansion that’s been called the world’s most expensive private residence.

Did you know?
Mukesh laid out his succession plan this year, appointing all three of his children to leadership roles at Reliance Industries.

↑

7

Brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer are reaping the benefits of their grandfather’s funding of designer Coco Chanel in 1920s Paris. Their family owns the closely held fashion house, which introduced the “little black dress” to the world and had revenue of $15.6 billion in 2021. The Wertheimers also own racehorses and vineyards. Their half-brother, Charles Heilbronn, runs family office Mousse Partners.

Did you know?
Chanel paid the family $5 billion in dividends in 2021. In 2020 it paid zero.

↑

8

Members of this family are majority owners of Cargill, a food and agriculture company that had revenue of $165 billion in the 12 months ending in May. It was founded by William W. Cargill, who started the commodities business with one grain storage warehouse in Conover, Iowa, in 1865. His descendants maintain control of the industrial giant. Both branches share a family office, Waycrosse.

Did you know?
The company’s net profit soared to a record $6.68 billion in fiscal 2022, up 35% from a year prior.

↓

9

The wealth of Canada’s richest family originated in the early 1930s when Roy Thomson opened an Ontario radio station. He branched out into newspapers and became the country’s leading owner and eventually the 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet. The family holds about a two-thirds stake in financial data and services provider Thomson Reuters through investment firm Woodbridge. The company had $6.3 billion of revenue last year.

Did you know?
Third-generation family member Peter has invested in more than 80 startups including SoFi and LendingClub through family office Thomvest Ventures.

↓

10

Drug maker Roche Holding was founded by entrepreneur Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche in 1896. His descendants control 9% of the company, whose blockbuster oncology drugs helped the group generate $68.7 billion in 2021 revenue. Family members have been prominent supporters of nature conservation.

Did you know?
The family received more than $730 million in dividends from Roche in 2021.

↓

11

Theo and Karl took over their parents’ grocery store after returning home from World War II and turned it into Aldi, a national chain of discount supermarkets. The brothers divided the business in the 1960s. The two branches – Aldi Nord and Aldi Sued – now have more than 10,000 stores combined. Theo’s side of the family also owns Trader Joe’s, which it bought in 1979.

Did you know?
Founding brothers Theo and Karl Albrecht split the business in 1960 over a dispute about whether or not to sell cigarettes in their stores.

↓

12

The Boston mutual-fund empire was founded by Edward C. Johnson II in Boston in 1946. It is now run by his granddaughter, Abigail. The closely held firm has responded to the shift away from actively managed funds in favor of low-cost index funds by launching zero-expense ratio funds and building a digital asset arm. The Johnsons’ family office, Crosby, is based in New Hampshire.

Did you know?
Fidelity had $9.9 trillion in assets under administration as of June.

↑

13

Michele Ferrero built a global chocolate confectionery company from a single store in the Italian town of Alba. His son Giovanni took sole charge of the family business after his other son Pietro died in a cycling accident in 2011. Ferrero acquired Nestle’s US candy business for $2.8 billion in 2018. The family manages money through their firms including Monaco-based Fedesa and Luxembourg-based Teseo Capital.

Did you know?
Late CEO Michele, often called a real-life Willy Wonka, always wore dark glasses and almost never spoke to the press.

↓

14

The German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer. More than 130 years later, the Boehringer family, encompassing the von Baumbachs, is still in charge. Chairman Hubertus von Baumbach and his extended family are owners of the closely held company. They invest in private equity through family office Profunda.

Did you know?
Sales of its biggest drug, type 2 diabetes treatment Jardiance, rose more than 25% to almost $4 billion in 2021.

15

Oei Wie Gwan purchased a cigarette brand in 1950 and renamed it Djarum. The business started as a 10-person operation and has grown into one of the largest cigarette makers in Indonesia. After Oei died in 1963, his sons Michael and Budi diversified by investing in Bank Central Asia. That stake now makes up most of the family’s fortune.

Did you know?
Michael Bambang Hartono is a professional bridge player, and won third place in the 2018 Asian Games.

↓

16

Herbert Quandt helped turn Bayerische Motoren Werke from a struggling carmaker into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of luxury vehicles. Family matriarch Johanna Quandt died in 2015 and her children, Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten, own nearly half the company.

Did you know?
The blue and white colors of BMW’s logo represent the official colors of the state of Bavaria

↓

17

The son of a Ukrainian immigrant, A.N. Pritzker began investing in real estate and troubled companies while working for his father’s law firm. The investments seeded the fortune of one of America’s oldest dynasties, whose assets include Hyatt Hotels. Family members are prominent Democrats, with Penny Pritzker serving as US commerce secretary under President Barack Obama. Family-owned investment vehicles include Pritzker Organization and Pritzker Private Capital.

Did you know?
An inter-family dispute over payments and trust shuffling prompted the sale or restructuring of much of the family empire starting in 2001.

↓

18

Raised in Queens to Hungarian-Czech immigrants, Estée Lauder began selling skin care and makeup products in New York beauty salons. In 1946 she and her husband Joseph launched a company to sell her own skin creams, and after one year received an order for $800 worth of products from Saks Fifth Avenue. Today Estee Lauder sells skin care, hair products, fragrance and cosmetics throughout the world. Still controlled by members of the family, it had revenue of $17.7 billion in fiscal 2022. RSL Investments is the investment office of second-generation member, Ronald.

Did you know?
Estee Lauder changed the way perfume was sold by encouraging women to purchase it for themselves.

19

Dan Duncan started working for oilfield companies after leaving the US Army. He co-founded natural gas liquids wholesaler Enterprise Products in 1968 with one truck and about $10,000. The company went public in 1998 and is now one of the biggest midstream energy companies in the US. Duncan died in 2010 and his four children inherited the trusts that collectively own the biggest stake in Enterprise. His daughter Randa is chair of the company’s board.

Did you know?
Patriarch Dan Duncan died in 2010, a year when there was no federal estate tax.

↓

20

The collective enterprise of these three Belgian beermaking families has roots in the 14th century. The Van Damme family joined the others when the 1987 merger between Piedboeuf and Artois led to the creation of Interbrew, which merged with Brazil’s AmBev in 2004.

Did you know?
The De Spoelberch family is Belgian nobility and carry the hereditary title of Viscount.

↓

21

Kwok Tak-seng co-founded the predecessor to real estate company Sun Hung Kai Properties in 1963, going on to buy up lots of land in an optimistic bet on the city’s future development. It went public in 1972. The company has since become one of Hong Kong’s largest property developers and the basis of the Kwok family fortune. His sons, Walter, Thomas and Raymond, assumed control when he died in 1990.

Did you know?
Raymond Kwok endorsed John Lee, China’s pick for Hong Kong chief executive in 2022.

↓

22

Born in Paris in 1892, Marcel Dassault invented a type of aircraft propeller during World War I that was used by the French military. By the 1960s Marcel’s company, Dassault Aviation, was shipping planes overseas, eventually becoming best known for its Mirage and Rafale fighter jets. The family-controlled Dassault Group now also includes software, media and real estate businesses. Its most valuable company is Dassault Systemes, a technology company with more than $5.7 billion in revenue that makes 3D design software. The family invests in venture, real estate, private debt and other assets through family office Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault.

Did you know?
Patriarch Marcel Dassault was detained and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp for refusing to collaborate with the Nazis.

↓

23

The Cox family controls Cox Enterprises, a conglomerate with $20.9 billion in revenue. Its Cox Communications division is one of the largest cable companies in the U.S. James M. Cox founded the company in 1898. His descendants, including James C. Kennedy and Blair Parry-Okeden, remain shareholders. The family invests outside the company’s core areas of autos and communications through the Cox Family Office.

Did you know?
Cox Enterprises bought online news company Axios Media for $525 million.

24

The Mistry family business was founded in India in 1865. Shapoorji Pallonji Group now spans various business areas, including engineering and construction. The family also owns a stake in Tata Sons, the main holding company of Tata Group, which controls Jaguar Land Rover and more than a dozen publicly traded companies in India.

Did you know?
Cyrus Mistry’s ousting as chairman of Tata Group in 2016 sparked one of India’s biggest-ever corporate feuds.

25

A.L. Mills started sewing butcher aprons for the Chicago stockyards in 1910. He expanded to surgeons’ gowns at the request of nuns from a local hospital and that business evolved into Medline. The medical goods supplier sells to thousands of US hospitals and is today run by fourth-generation family members. The Mills sold a 79% stake in the business to a consortium of private equity firms in 2021 in a deal that valued the business at about $32 billion.

Did you know?
Medline makes the Kuddle-Up blanket, the blue-and-pink striped swaddle that seemingly every hospital-born US newborn is wrapped in.