Mixing family and business can lead to some heated rows – none more so than at these companies which actually split due to family feuding. From the Rothschild dynasty to the brothers who set up Puma and Adidas, read on to find out how these warring families went in different business directions.

Karl (pictured) and Theo Albrecht took over a small German grocery store in Essen from their mother and turned it into a chain of stores. Aldi – short for Albrecht Diskont – became famous for its limited selection of goods sold at budget prices. But it wasn't to last. They fought over selling cigarettes – and took the extreme solution of splitting their 300 stores through the middle of Germany in 1961, with Theo taking the north and Karl the south. When they expanded outside the country this continued, with Aldi Nord taking France and Poland, and Aldi Süd having stores in the UK, Ireland and Australia.

There is only one country where both Aldis operate, the US. But you wouldn't know it as in America Aldi Nord operates under the name of Trader Joe’s. After an incident in 1971 where Theo was kidnapped (a year after this photo was taken) and held for 17 days, the brothers became famously reclusive. But it didn't stop them making money. When Karl died in 2014, he was worth an estimated $26.1 billion (£19.8bn), while Theo died four years earlier in 2010, worth just a little less, at around $18.8 billion (£14.2bn).

Read more about Aldi: the German supermarket taking over the world

McCain Foods, which created the first frozen French fry, opened in Canada in 1957. it was set up by two brothers, Harrison (left) and Wallace (right). They worked together harmoniously for 37 years, but in 1993, when Wallace appointed his son Michael to head McCain USA, he set off a family succession row with his brother, which ended in a court case reported to have cost $20 million (£15.2m).

Ultimately Wallace was ousted, going on to buy Canadian packaged meats company Maple Leaf Foods, which Michael now heads. The brothers finally settled their differences before Harrison died in 2004, while Wallace (pictured with wife Margaret) passed away in 2011. Today McCain’s sees revenues of ‎$6.4 billion (£4.9m) while Maple Leaf brings in revenues of $2.6 billion (£2bn).

South Korea's Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung (right with son Chung Mong-koo) built an empire of 86 firms and made Korea’s first cars, but bitter in-fighting among three of his sons broke the company apart. Before his death in 2001, Chung Ju-yung controversially chose fifth son Chung Mong-hun to be his successor as chairman, his eldest son having died in a car crash. But the conglomerate was also restructured into five business groups, all helmed by Chungs.

Mong-hun committed suicide two years later, following accusations of trying to bribe North Korean leader Kim Jong-iI to attend a peace summit, leaving his widow Hyun Chung-Un (pictured at his funeral with brother-in-law Mong-koo) in control of the Hyundai Group. Eldest son Mong-koo took over Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, the world’s fifth largest automaker, with his son Chung Eui-sun now vice-chairman.

Electronics giant Samsung is another Korean conglomerate split apart by family feuds. Founded in 1938 by Lee Byung-chul, who had three sons and five daughters, it was third son Lee Kun-hee (pictured) who ultimately succeeded him as chairman in 1987. By the mid-90s, oldest son Maeng-hee spun food and entertainment business CJ Group off, with sisters Lee In-hee and Lee Myung-hee also separating businesses, including conglomerate Hansol and department store franchise Shinsegae, from Samsung.

In 2012 Maeng-hee and sister Lee Sook-hee – who married into the family that owns Samsung rival LG – sued their younger brother Kun-hee, accusing him of hiding company shares and demanding $3.54 billion (£2.7bn). Kun-hee won in court in 2014 but had a heart attack the same year and was hospitalised until his death on 25 October 2020, while Maeng-hee died in 2015. Kun-hee's son Lee Jay Hyun (left) is now chairman, and Samsung remains South Korea’s biggest business group, generating 20% of the nation’s gross domestic product.

Samsung's incredible success story

Rothschild, a 200-year-old European banking dynasty, ended its latest dispute in 2018. Wealth management firm Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM) – run by Ariane de Rothschild (pictured) – and the Rothschild & Co Group agreed to withdraw holdings in each other's firms and settled that neither company would use the single name 'Rothschild' in any of their branding. It was only in 2012 that the French and British arms, Rothschild & Cie Banque of France and NM Rothschild, were brought under one umbrella after years of rivalry.  

But the biggest split in the family came more than 35 years ago when Lord Jacob Rothschild (pictured with Prince Charles) cut his business links with the UK branch of the family after being passed over by his father, Baron Victor, for the chairmanship – which was handed to his cousin. Lord Jacob went on to create the successful investment trust RIT Capital Partners, valued at $4.4 billion (£3.3bn), and St James’s Place Wealth Management. In 2013, he signed a partnership with Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. 

From Rockefellers to Rothschilds: how five old-money family dynasties live today

Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son Lachlan (pictured right, with his father) was expected to take over the family media empire – until he abruptly left his role as deputy chief operating officer in 2005, reportedly amid friction with his father and other executives. He set up a private investment company Illyria Pty Ltd, with its own media assets. Younger son James was then expected to step into his father’s shoes, but became embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal at UK newspaper the News of the World. 

In 2014, Lachlan returned to the fold in time for his father to sell much of 21st Century Fox to Disney for $71 billion (£54bn). Rupert has confirmed that Lachlan will become chief executive of the new, leaner Fox Corp, which will have an estimated $2 billion (£1.5bn) in annual earnings, and share the chairmanship with him. While James (right) had previously been CEO of 21st Century Fox, he has now set up an investment fund and will not be transferring to Fox Corp. In 2020, James also resigned from the board of directors at News Corp, claiming he was leaving "due to disagreements over certain editorial content."

How Disney has taken over the world

German brothers Rudolf and Adolf ‘Adi’ Dassler (pictured left and right respectively) founded a shoe company in their mother’s laundry room in 1924, and by the 1930s athletes such as Jesse Owens were clad in Dassler shoes. But during World War II, the siblings also battled each other. What caused the rift is unclear, but by 1949 the two brothers had set up rival shoe companies in their home town of Herzogenaurach: Adi with Adidas and Rudolf with Ruda (now called Puma).

The brothers are understood never to have spoken again and to have been buried at opposite ends of the cemetery when they died. It was only 13 years ago, in 2009, that the two companies met up for a friendly game of football. Sales at Puma hit $7.7 billion (£5.7bn) in 2021, but this was smashed by Adidas, which recorded revenues of $25.7 billion (£19bn) for the 12 months ending September 2021.

In 1901, weaver Hans Grohe (pictured) founded a metal goods business in the town of Schiltach in Germany’s Black Forest. One of his innovations was a tin shower for the bathroom, a relative luxury at the time. So far, so good. However, a dispute led to his son Friedrich leaving Hansgrohe and buying sanitary fittings company Berkenhoff & Paschendag in 1936. In 1948, he renamed the company Grohe. Over the following decades Grohe bought up several other companies.

It wasn’t until the 1980s, when Grohe started to compete against Hansgrohe’s products, that the two companies began a fierce rivalry. Friedrich’s half-brother Klaus had become CEO of Hansgrohe in 1977. To complicate matters further, Grohe bought a stake in Chinese bathroom and kitchen fittings manufacturer Joyou, which was then accused by Hansgrohe of copying its designs. Grohe is now part of the Japanese corporation LIXIL.

When Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of the Reliance Industries empire, died in 2002 his sons Anil (left) and Mukesh (right) took over the roles of managing director and chairman respectively. It took two years for their feud, said to be over the ownership divide, to become public knowledge, and their mother Kokilaben was left to intervene and broker a 2005 deal to carve up the billion-dollar company.

Elder brother Mukesh kept control of the core oil, gas and petrochemicals businesses while Anil (pictured) took control of the telecoms, finance and power arms. Today Mukesh Ambani, 61, is worth $55.5 billion (£42.2bn) and is India’s richest person while Anil, 59, is worth a comparatively small $2 billion (£1.5bn), his empire having shrunk in value by almost 97% in a decade due to increased competition and loss of market share. Despite their differences, Mukesh stepped in to help Anil repay $77 million (£58.6m) he owed to Swedish telecommunications firm Ericsson in 2019 so that he would avoid jail time.

Read more about Mukesh Ambani, and discover which world-famous pop star he hired for his daughter's wedding