30 Wealthiest Families in the World: Should You Invest in Their Companies?
In this article, we will be taking a look at the 30 wealthiest families in the world. To skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to see the 10 wealthiest families in the world.
When you think about the wealthiest families in the world, you can't help but think of the unequal distribution of resources which has allowed this situation to happen. Right now, the world has enough resources to take care of its population and yet, the vast majority are unable to enjoy even a decent standard of living, while the rich enjoy luxurious lives that we cannot even begin to comprehend. While the global GDP has quadrupled since 1980, the standard of living hasn't increased uniformly with most of this wealth being concentrated among the rich. This means that while wealth is being created consistently over years and decades, so is global inequality. Of course, this doesn't mean that it's all doom and gloom. After all, many countries have worked hard and achieved some modicum of success in reducing extreme poverty and that's probably a result of globalization and trickle-down economics. However, it is also important to stress that the problem is far from eradicated.
According to Inequality.org, income inequality has never been as high as it is right now, with the richest 1% in the world owning an astronomical 46% of the global wealth. This of course means that there is much less left for the rest of the 99% to sustain themselves and so the cycle continues. It is also interesting that while lack of opportunities, corruption and generational wealth drives income inequality in developing nations, the spread of wealth is heavily tilted in most developed economies as well, with the U.S. being by far the worst of the bunch. That is also why most of the 30 wealthiest families in the world will be found in the U.S.
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Disparities between the rich and the poor have been clear to everyone for some time now, but if there were any doubts the pandemic erased them all. After all, you can simply consider how unequal vaccine distribution was with the richer countries able to hoard more vaccines than needed while lower income countries struggled to inoculate even a small percentage of their population. In mid January 2022, the number of vaccine doses administered per 100 people was 13 times higher in high-income countries as compared to low-income countries. That's one way to look at it. Another point of view is that if there weren't any rich countries that are technologically advanced enough to invent a vaccine in such a short amount of time using a brand new technology, the people in the lower income countries wouldn't have a single dose of the vaccine.
Another incredible statistic is that even when job insecurity was rife and major corporations were decreasing their workforce by tens of thousands at a time, billionaires enjoyed riches like never before, with the collective wealth of billionaires globally increasing by $3.9 trillion from March to December 2020. At the same time, earnings for workers globally decreased by $3.7 trillion as unemployment reached record levels in many countries.
So how do the wealthiest families in the world gain their wealth? Well, most often, one family member starts a company which experiences enormous success and leads to other members of the family, generally children who then get ownership in the company and hence, the wealth passes onto the family. Often times, this wealth is then passed down from generation to generation and hence, wealth continues to accumulate within the family, increasing its net worth as the companies or investments continue to grow. Studies also show that family-owned companies are more successful than regular companies, mainly because family-owned companies are perceived to be more trustworthy.
Academic Studies on the Success of Family Owned Companies
Whether family-owned companies are objectively more successful than faceless corporations has been a question considered in many studies especially over the last couple of decades, while considering markets in different countries, from the U.S. to Italy to Vietnam. According to a professor in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, investors tend to value family-owned firms more highly, especially if the founder is also acting as the CEO, mainly because "owner-manager agency conflicts will be mitigated by the involvement of founding families with strong incentives to monitor." There is evidence to back this as well, considering that acquisitions and divestitures of family-owned corporations have yielded better returns for shareholders as compared to acquisitions and divestitures of non-family companies. A study conducted by the Family Business Stock Index tracked the performance of family-owned companies with that of non-family-owned companies, and found out, that from 1976 to 1996, the former provided a return of 16.6% while the latter's return was only 14%. Considering stock prices alone, and not total returns, the difference was even stronger with share price of family-owned businesses increasing by 13.9% while non-family-owned businesses saw a share price increase of just 9.6% in the same period.
In a similar study conducted on the Italian stock market in 2022 by the Department of Economics and Management from the University of Pavia, family-owned businesses outperformed non-family-owned businesses by a significant margin as well. The study suggested that founding family firms are focused on a growth investing style, and that companies where a member of the founding family is also the CEO performs better because of stronger motivation and long-term thinking that results in a better return in the long run.
Investing in family-owned companies may not be the best strategy but it seems to outperform the market. That's why we are going to bring some of the wealthiest families and the biggest family-owned companies to your attention in this article.
Most of the wealthiest people in the world are quite philanthropic, often donating tens of millions of dollars and in some cases, even billions of dollars. The most generous givers in the billionaire community have given a combined $169 billion during their lifetimes and yet, their wealth continues to increase. Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), donated $5.8 billion across hundreds of groups in 2020 and in June 2021, announced another donation of $2.7 billion, putting her on track to giving away her fortune the fastest in history.
The wealthiest families in the world have a combined net worth of almost $1.7 trillion. This doesn't include individuals whose net worth is much higher than most of the families in our list such as Elon Musk or Bernard Arnault. We have determined the net worth of each family based on latest available net worth from Forbes and Bloomberg. So, without further ado, let's take a look at the top 1% of the 1%, starting with number 30:
30. Marshall Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $18.5
The Marshall family fortune is derived from their ancestor's partnership with the Koch family several decades ago.
29. Brown Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $20.4
The Brown family owns Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE:BF.B) which is known for its most famous brand in Jack Daniels.
28. Hearst Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $21
The Hearst family may not be on the list of the wealthiest families in the world as their fortune, derived from broadcasting and publishing companies, has continued to decline over the years.
27. Mills Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $26.2
The Mills family owns Medline Industries which is engaged in the manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical products.
26. Mistry Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $27.4
The second-richest family in India owns Shapoorji Pallonji Group which is a major Indian conglomerate.
25. Cox Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $28.3
The Cox family owns Cox Enterprises which is engaged in the communications and automotive industry.
24. Dassault Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $28.5
The Dassault family is the owner of Dassault Systèmes SE which is a French software company which is engaged in the development of 3D product design, simulation and manufacturing.
23. Kwok Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $29.2
Among the wealthiest families in the world, the Kwok family is based in Hong Kong where it owns Sun Hung Kai Properties which is engaged in real estate.
22. Van Damme, De Spoelberch, De Mevius
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $29.9
The three families collectively own Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD), the largest beer manufacturer in the world by far.
21. Newhouse Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $30
The Newhouse family owns the Conde Nast publication which owns some major magazines such as The New Yorker, Vogue and Vanity Fair.
20. Duncan Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $30.1
The Duncan family owns Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) which is an industrial company which has a current market cap of more than $53 billion.
19. Lauder Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $32.7
The Lauder family is the owner of the esteemed cosmetics company The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) which is headquartered in New York. The company was established by Estee Lauder herself in 1946.
18. Pritzker Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $34.6
The Pritzker family owns the Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H), one of the largest hotel corporations in the world.
17. Quandt Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $36
When Herbert Quandt took over BMW, it was a struggling automotive company. Now, it is one of the largest such companies in the world with a global reputation for its luxury vehicles.
16. Hartono Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $36.3
The Hartono family is the wealthiest family in Indonesia thanks to its ownership of the cigarette manufacturer Djarum Group.
15. Bon Baumbach Boehringer Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $36.6
The Bon Baumbach Boehringer Family is one of the wealthiest families in Germany thanks to its ownership of the drug manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim, which was founded in 1885.
14. S.C. Johnson Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $37
S.C. Johnson and Son is a private manufacturer which produces household cleaning supplies and employs more than 13,000 people. The S.C. Johnson family owns the company, which is among the oldest family owned businesses in the country.
13. Ferrero Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $37.1
The Ferrero family owns Ferrero SpA which is an Italian company engaged in the production of chocolates and other confectionary products and is the second-largest company of its kind in the world.
12. Johnson Family (Fidelity)
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $40.2
Fidelity Investments has close to $10 trillion in assets under management and is among the largest asset managers in the world. The Johnson family owns the private company which was established in 1946.
11. Albrecht Family
Total net worth of the family (in billions): $41.4
Aldi is one of the most famous grocery store chains in Europe and now has more than 10,000 stores in at least 20 countries. It is owned by the Albrecht family. In 2020, family infighting was made public after Nicolay Albrecht filed a lawsuit against his mother and sisters saying that they stole funds from the family trust.
Click to continue reading and see the 10 Wealthiest Families in the world.
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Disclosure: None. 30 wealthiest families in the world is originally published at Insider Monkey.
