Recently, the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, compiled a list of the 500 largest family-run businesses. The list provides impressive evidence of the economic power and relevance of family firms across the world.
The index is compiled by the Center for Family Business at the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland, in cooperation with EY’s Global Family Business Center of Excellence. In this study a family business is defined as one where the family controls more than 50% of the voting rights in privately held firm and at least 32% of the voting rights in publicly listed firms. Around 25 Indian businesses found place in the list. Below we take a glimpse at the top 30 family businesses across the world as per this list.
Rank |
Name |
Host country |
Owned by |
Annual revenue (Bn $) |
Estd |
Employees |
1 |
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. |
USA |
Walton family |
476.3 |
1962 |
2200000 |
2 |
Volkswagen AG |
Germany |
Porsche family |
261.6 |
1937 |
572800 |
3 |
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |
USA |
Buffet family |
182.2 |
1955 |
330745 |
4 |
Exor S.p.A. |
Italy |
Agnelli family |
151.1 |
1927 |
301441 |
5 |
Ford Motor Co. |
USA |
Ford family |
146.9 |
1903 |
181000 |
6 |
Cargill Inc. |
USA |
Cargill/MacMillan family |
136.7 |
1865 |
143000 |
7 |
Koch Industries Inc. |
USA |
Koch family |
115.0 |
1940 |
100000 |
8 |
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG |
Germany |
Quandt family |
101.0 |
1916 |
110351 |
9 |
Schwarz Group |
Germany |
Schwarz family |
89.4 |
1930 |
335000 |
10 |
Groupe Auchan |
France |
Mulliez family |
85.5 |
1961 |
302500 |
11 |
Arcelor Mittal |
Luxembourg |
Mittal family |
79.4 |
1989 |
232000 |
12 |
Louis Dreyfus Holding B.V. |
Netherlands |
Louis Dreyfus family |
74.3 |
1851 |
36306 |
13 |
Reliance Industries Ltd. |
India |
Ambani family |
72.0 |
1966 |
23853 |
14 |
Peugeot SA |
France |
Peugeot family |
71.8 |
1810 |
207287 |
15 |
Comcast Corp |
USA |
Roberts family |
64.7 |
1963 |
136000 |
16 |
Casino Guichard-Perrachon |
France |
Naouri family |
64.6 |
1898 |
329355 |
17 |
America Movil SA de CV |
Mexico |
Carlos Slim and family |
61.6 |
2000 |
163524 |
18 |
Itau Unibanco Banco Multiplo SA |
Brazil |
Moreira Salles family |
57.0 |
2008 |
95696 |
19 |
Long & Foster Cos. Inc. |
USA |
Long and Foster family |
56.0 |
1968 |
11500 |
20 |
Roche Holding AG |
Switzerland |
Hoffman-Roche family |
50.5 |
1896 |
85080 |
21 |
Enterprise Products Partners LP |
USA |
Duncan family |
47.7 |
1968 |
6600 |
22 |
AP Moeller/Maersk Group |
Denmark |
Moller family |
47.4 |
1904 |
88909 |
23 |
Continental AG |
Germany |
Schaeffler family |
44.3 |
1871 |
177762 |
24 |
JBS SA |
Brazil |
Batista family |
43.2 |
1953 |
142000 |
25 |
Christian Dior SA |
France |
Arnault family |
42.0 |
1946 |
117806 |
26 |
Odebrecht S.A. |
Brazil |
Odebrecht & Gradin families |
41.3 |
1944 |
105000 |
27 |
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA |
France |
Arnault family |
38.7 |
1987 |
114635 |
28 |
Tata Motors Ltd. |
India |
Tata family |
38.2 |
1945 |
66593 |
29 |
Bechtel Group Inc. |
USA |
Bechtel family |
37.9 |
1898 |
52700 |
30 |
ALDI Group |
Germany |
Albrecht family |
37.2 |
1913 |
100000 |
Source: http://familybusinessindex.com/#map