Top 15 Wealthiest Families In The World

The Waltons are one of the richest families in the world, with a whopping net worth of $238.2 billion, as per Bloomberg. Their three-generation family business includes Walmart, the world’s largest retailer by sales.

The founder, Sam Walton, bought his first store in 1945, and his son, Rob, became the chairman in 1992. Around half of Walmart’s stock is owned by the seven heirs of Sam and his brother James “Bud.”

The Walton family fortune details are:

• Jim Walton – $60.1 billion
• Alice Walton – $59.2 billion
• S. Robson Walton – $59 billion
• Lukas Walton – $15.1 billion
• Ann Walton Kroenke – $8 billion
• Nancy Walton Laurie – $7.3 billion
• Christy Walton – $7.2 billion

Besides Walmart, the company owns several other companies, including Sam’s Club, Flipkart, Jet.com, ASDA, and The Hub. In 2021, the Walton family members sold around $6 billion worth of shares. The consumer retail family is primarily based in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The five-generation confectionery and pet care family business began when Frank Marks started selling molasses candies in 1902. They have a total of $141.9 billion net worth. 

They opened a chocolate factory in the Netherlands in 1963. Mars is now the makers of Mars Bars, Snickers, M&M’s, Twix, Milky Way, drinks, PetCare products, and many more. The business is primarily based in McLean, Virginia.

It is a closely held family business owned mainly by the Mars heirs. The family rarely gives press interviews and is very protective of their privacy. Victoria B. Mars and Jacqueline Mars are the few who get photographed in public. 

Fred Koch co-founded the Wood River Oil & Refining Co. in 1940, and his sons, Charles, David, Frederick, and Willian, later inherited the oil firm. Charles and David had stayed in the company, and Frederick and William had to leave the family business due to a fraternal feud. 

The three-generation Koch family business is now valued at $124.4 billion. They manage parts of their wealth through 1888 Management, a family office. 

An asset-management division of Koch Industries, Spring Creek Capital, has invested in over 250 special purposes acquisition companies. Charles’ son Chase led the Koch Disruptive Technologies; a Koch Industries starts venture capital arm.

The Koch family foundations are known for their substantial financial contribution in the fields of research and libertarian solutions, education, Cato Institute, and many more.

Hermès, the French luxury design house, was founded by Thierry Hermes in 1837. The six-generation family business produces handbags, perfumes, and collectible works of art. The company is famous for its Birkin handbags, which can range from $8,500 to over $300,000.

The Dumas family became a part of the Hermes when Jacqueline Hermes and Robert Dumas married. Now, Axel Dumas and Pierre-Alexis Dumas hold senior positions at the company. Axel became the CEO of Hermes in 2014.

The business moved to 24 Faubourg Saint-Honore, Paris, in 1880, and the city has since become their headquarters. The family’s net worth is $111.6 billion. Neither the company nor the family has ever compromised its brand image over several decades. 

The Al Saud family comprises around 15,000 members, and the royal family is the King of Saudi Arabia. The absolute monarch possesses the majority of world power, wealth, and influence.

Their wealth is $100 billion, and this is mainly based on cumulative payouts royal family members are calculated to have received over the past five decades. 

Likewise, their fortune is collected from the nation’s unrivaled oil reserves, considerable assets in fossil fuel reserves, and Saudi Aramco, the state oil and gas company. Many of the royals made their wealth through land deals and brokering government contracts. The three-generation family is primarily based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Fifteen thousand extended family members manage the fortune. They have also founded businesses, including Saudi Aramco, which is a service state company. Saudi Aramco went public in 2019 after disclosing itself as the world’s most profitable company. 

The three-generation Mumbai-based Ambani family is worth $93.7 billion. Dhirubhai Ambani started building Reliance Industries in the 1950s. After Dhirubhai’s death, his sons Mukesh and Anil got control of the family fortune in 2002.

After the bitter succession battle, Mukesh was in control of the oil petrochemicals, gas, and refining operations of the business. However, Anil was left with the assets management, telecommunications, entertainment, and power generation business.

Reliance Industries, the Ambani family’s business, is one of the most valuable Indian companies, with a Fortune 500 company worth over $100 billion. Mukesh, one of the wealthiest Indians in the world, lives in a $1 billion skyscraper with his wife and kids.

The family even made international headlines for throwing one of the most expensive and lavish weddings with a private Beyonce concert. The guest list included Hilary Clinton, Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas, Arianna Huffington, and several Bollywood stars, reports Business Insider.

The Wertheimer family owns Chanel, the closely held fashion house which introduced the world to the “little black dress.” The family is now reaping the benefits of their grandfather’s funding of designer Coco Chanel in 1920s Paris. 

The luxury company had revenue of $10.1 billion in 2020, and Chanel paid the Wertheimer family $1.7 billion in dividends in 2019. Their current wealth is $61.8 billion, and they are based in Paris.

The three-generation wealthy family also owns vineyards and racehorses. Wertheimer stays out of the public eye as they believe Chanel is all about Coco Chanel and Karl and everyone who works and created at the luxury company, as per Celebrity Net Worth.

The three-generation Boston-based Johnson Fidelity family is worth 61.2 billion. Edward C. Johnson II founded the Fidelity Management and Research Company in 1946. Their wealth is primarily collected from Fidelity Investments, which Abigail, Edward’s granddaughter, now runs. 

The family office, Crosby, is currently based in New Hampshire. The company released a statement last year that they were planning to hire 9000 new workers in the USA by the end of the year due to a surge in stock trading. 

They own about 49% of mutual fund company Fidelity, whereas the employees own the other 51%. As of September 2020, the company had $3.5 trillion in managed assets. 

The Johnson family has a pretty low profile and diversified into pharma, real estate, Texas shale, and fiber optics. Abigail’s brother Edward Johnson IV looks after the family’s real estate company, whereas her sister Elizabeth is not involved with Fidelity.

The Thomson is the wealthiest family in Canada, with a total net worth of $61.1 billion. It all started in the 1930s when Roy Thompson opened an Ontario radio station. He then diversified into newspapers, and the family became the country’s leading owner. 

Today, Roy’s grandson, David, and his family control the media and publishing company. The Chairman of Thomson Reuters, David Thomson, is an active private investor who focuses on real estate, serves on the boards of several private companies, and is the Chairman of Globe and Mail Inc. and Woodbridge.

The Thomson family holds stakes in Bell Canada and owns the Globe and Mail newspaper. In 2018, Thomson Reuters had to sell a considerable portion of its financial and risk unit stake to Blackstone.

The Germany-based Boehringer Von Baumbach family is worth around $59.2 billion. Their wealth is earned through Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.

The four-generation family is based in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany. It all began when Albert Boehringer founded Boehringer Ingelheim, a German drugmaker, in 1885, after buying a small tartar factory in Germany. The family now invests through the family office Profunda.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s top seller is Type 2 diabetes drug Jardiance, and in 2020, the product generated $2.9 billion in revenue. 

Cargill-MacMilan family has a wealth of $51.6 billion. Cargill Inc., a food and agriculture company, is the largest closely held company in the USA. The most prosperous agriculture family’s fortune increased when the food prices surged earlier this year.

The six-generation Minneapolis-based family earns their wealth from their food and agriculture company. In 2019, there were 14 billionaires in the Cargill family, and they have more individual billionaires among their members than any other family in the world. 

The company’s highest ever profit of $4.9 billion got recorded in fiscal 2021. Cargill spun off investment firm Black River Asset Management into three different companies in 2015.

The Albrecht family earned their wealth through the consumer retail business. Two brothers, Theodor Paul Albrecht and Karl Albrecht established the discount supermarket chain Aldi after returning home from World War II. They divided the company in the 1960s into Aldi Nord and Aldi Sued. 

Theo’s family bought Trader Joe’s in 1979. Theo Sr. ensured long-term family control for Aldi Nord as he set up three trusts. 

The three-generation consumer retail business is primarily based in Essen and Muelheim, Germany. Their net worth is around $51 billion. 

It all started with Estee Lauder developing her beauty line in 1946 with her husband. Twelve years later, her son, Leonard Lauder, joined the cosmetic company after serving as a naval officer. The New-York based three-generation family is now worth $49.3 billion. 

The family still controls the company, Estee Lauder, and their fiscal 2021 revenue was around $16.2 billion. They sell skincare, fragrance, cosmetics, and hair products all around the world. The publicly traded company owns more than 29 brands, including Clinique, Origins, and MAC.

The Lauder family is of Hungarian Jewish and Czech Jewish ancestry. The Queens native is an American Jewish family, and there are now six billionaire members in the Lauder family. 

Estee’s granddaughter Aerin currently works as the cosmetic empire’s image and style director. 

The Hoffmann-Oeri family owns Roche, the Swiss multinational healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostics company. The five-generation Hoffmann-La Roche family is based in Basel, Switzerland, and has a wealth of $47.3 billion. 

Being one of the wealthiest families in the world, they have also managed to gain a reputation for being very secretive. Many of the family members no longer carry the last name, Hoffmann. Some are known as Schmid, Oeri, Fabre, Michalski, Duschmalé, and Faber-Castell. 

It began in 1896 when Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche founded the Drug maker Roche Holding. The family now has 9% of the company, and they have been prominent supporters of nature conservation. In 2019, seven members of the fifth generation managed to join the family’s shareholder pool. 

The Mulliez family has a wealth of $45.9 billion from their consumer retail business. Gerard Mulliez opened the first Auchan store, also known as France’s Walmart, in 1961. The company expanded into Hungary in 1998. 

Alibaba paid the company $3.6 billion in 2020 for control of a Chinese hypermarket operator from the Mulliez family. The four-generation Mulliez family is primarily based in Lille, France. 

Auchan is one of Europe’s biggest supermarket chains. The family office, Creadev, focuses on entrepreneurs trying to increase access to essential goods and services, and the company allocates around $236 million to invest annually.

The Mulliez family holding company, Association Familiale Mulliez, has control over a variety of retail businesses. It includes the home-improvement chain Leroy Merlin.