25 massive companies that are still family owned
The world's largest family-controlled firms

When we think of family businesses, we tend to conjure up images of homely convenience stores and humble neighborhood pizza parlors, small-scale operations competing with huge faceless multinationals. Yet a surprising number of these massive global enterprises are themselves family controlled. Here are the 25 largest family-owned firms on the planet, according to the latest Global Family Business Index 2019, compiled by the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
Family business definition

25. China Evergrande Group (Hui family)

25. China Evergrande Group (Hui family)

24. JBS SA (Batista family)

24. JBS SA (Batista family)

23. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (Arnault family)

The world's largest luxury goods company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (commonly referred to as LMVH), was formed as part of a merger between fashion house Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy in 1987, the latter the result of a previous merger between champagne Moët and cognac brand Hennessy in 1971. The creation of this luxury behemoth was the idea of Bernard Arnault who built up funds of $15 million (£11.6m) after working for his father's construction business to buy fashion house Dior in 1985.
23. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (Arnault family)

22. América Móvil SA de CV (Slim family)

22. América Móvil SA de CV (Slim family)

21. CK Hutchison Holdings (Li family)

21. CK Hutchison Holdings (Li family)

20. Groupe Auchan (Mulliez family)

20. Groupe Auchan (Mulliez family)

19. Continental AG (Schaeffler family)

19. Continental AG (Schaeffler family)

18. LG Corporation (Koo and Huh families)

18. LG Corporation (Koo and Huh families)

17. Roche Holding AG [Roche Group] (Hoffmann-La Roche family)

17. Roche Holding AG [Roche Group] (Hoffmann-La Roche family)

16. Metro AG (Haniel / Schmidt-Ruthnbeck / Beisheim families)

16. Metro AG (Haniel / Schmidt-Ruthnbeck / Beisheim families)

15. Dell Inc (Dell family)

15. Dell Inc (Dell family)

14. Gunvor SA (Tornqvist family)

14. Gunvor SA (Tornqvist family)

13. ArcelorMittal (Mittal family)

13. ArcelorMittal (Mittal family)

12. Comcast Corp (Roberts family)

12. Comcast Corp (Roberts family)

11. ALDI Group (Albrecht family)

11. ALDI Group (Albrecht family)

10. Robert Bosch GmbH (Bosh Family)

10. Robert Bosch GmbH (Bosh Family)

A major crisis in the German automotive industry led Bosch to rethink its product lines, and from around 1926 the company moved into other items such as power tools, and later household products such as washing machines. Bosch is now a global force, and depsite Robert Bosch's death in 1945 it remains in family hands, with his children Robert Bosch Jr and Eva Madelung holding a 8% stake up until Bosch Jr's death in 2004. Today, Madelung, along with eight members of the third generation, now share this family stake, while the remaining 92% is held by a charitable foundation as per Robert Bosch's wishes.
9. Schwarz Gruppe (Schwarz family)

9. Schwarz Gruppe (Schwarz family)

8. Cargill, Incorporated (Cargill MacMillan family)

8. Cargill, Incorporated (Cargill MacMillan family)

7. Koch Industries Inc (Koch family)

7. Koch Industries Inc (Koch family)

6. BMW AG (Quandt family)

6. BMW AG (Quandt family)

5. Ford Motor Company (Ford family)

5. Ford Motor Company (Ford family)

The venerable and super-successful motor company, which has annual revenues of $156.78 billion (£121.5bn) and produces millions of vehicles a year worldwide, is the second largest US automaker and the fifth largest on the planet.
4. EXOR SpA (Agnelli family)

4. EXOR SpA (Agnelli family)

3. Berkshire Hathaway (Buffett family)

3. Berkshire Hathaway (Buffett family)

The conglomerate wholly owns a number of firms, including GEICO and Dairy Queen, and has significant minority holdings in major companies such as Coca-Cola, Apple and American Express. Warren Buffett has voting control of the company and, upon his death, the bulk of the shares he owns will pass to a family foundation.
2. Volkswagen AG (Porsche family)

2. Volkswagen AG (Porsche family)

1. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (Walton family)

1. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (Walton family)

The Walton family controls just under 51% of supermarket behemoth Wal-Mart, America's largest business in terms of revenue and the world's largest retailer, with an annual turnover of $485.7 billion (£338.1bn) and a total of 2.3 million employees.
Meet the Waltons: the family story behind Walmart's staggering success
Comments
Be the first to comment
Do you want to comment on this article? You need to be signed in for this feature