It’s a captivating subject for many: the lives and fortunes of the wealthiest families on our planet. Whether it’s curiosity, aspiration, or simple fascination, the world of the ultra-rich holds a certain allure. It certainly demands less effort than grappling with personal finance tasks like understanding mortgages or navigating investment brokers.
The public’s interest in these families stems from a culture that often glorifies wealth and turns the affluent into figures of celebrity. Their business acumen, or sometimes their perceived failures, become topics of public discussion and scrutiny.
This curated list focuses exclusively on families who established their wealth through entrepreneurial endeavors, even if current generations are simply managing or enjoying inherited fortunes.
Key Insights
- The Walton family, founders of Walmart, reigns supreme as the richest family globally, boasting a staggering net worth exceeding $430 billion.
- The Hermès family, synonymous with luxury goods like scarves, ties, and iconic handbags, secures the fourth position with a fortune of $170.6 billion.
- Royal families from Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia feature prominently near the top, largely due to their nations’ vast oil reserves.
- The Mars family, now in its fourth generation and managing a $133 billion empire, continues to dominate the candy industry with Mars Incorporated.
- It’s important to note that this list concentrates on family wealth, excluding individual billionaires such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who have amassed immense fortunes independently.
The Walton Family
Estimated Wealth: $432.4 Billion
Company: Walmart
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The Walton family once again claims the title of the world’s richest family, briefly overtaken by the Al Nahyan family in the previous year. Leading the family’s financial success, Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton each hold individual fortunes around $75 billion, ranking them among the top billionaires worldwide.
Walmart, the creation of Sam Walton in Arkansas in 1962, has become a retail giant. By fiscal year 2024, it stood as the world’s largest company in terms of revenue, generating $648 billion and employing over 2.1 million associates globally.
Operating more than 10,600 stores internationally and 5,206 in the U.S. as of February 2025, Walmart is renowned for its expansive “big-box” stores across rural and suburban America. Celebrated for its competitively priced products, it also faces scrutiny regarding its labor practices. Interestingly, unlike competitor Target, Walmart has struggled to replicate its big-box model’s success within New York City.
The Al Nahyan Family
Estimated Wealth: $323.9 Billion
Company: Abu Dhabi Royal Family
The Al Nahyan family, also known as the “House of Nahyan,” secures its position as the second wealthiest family worldwide. Currently headed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who serves as the ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the family’s wealth is intrinsically linked to the UAE’s vast oil reserves. Abu Dhabi, in particular, is one of the most oil-rich of the emirates, contributing significantly to the family’s immense fortune.
Sheikh Mohamed’s ascension to ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the UAE in 2022 followed the leadership of his brother, Sheikh Khalifa, from 2004 to 2022, and their father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the nation’s founding President from 1971 to 2004.
The family’s financial empire is built upon the ownership of billions of barrels of oil reserves, complemented by highly lucrative wealth funds that further amplify their economic influence.
The Al Thani Family
Estimated Wealth: $172.9 Billion
Company: Royal Family of Qatar
The Al Thani family’s reign over Qatar stretches back to the mid-19th century, navigating the nation’s evolution through modernization, conflicts, and even coup attempts.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani played a pivotal role in transforming Qatar into a significant global power during his 18-year rule. His rise to power in 1995 involved a bloodless coup that deposed his father, accompanied by the strategic freezing of his father’s assets to prevent counter-actions.
Under his leadership, Qatar’s natural gas production experienced exponential growth, driven by the development of offshore gas fields and the discovery of previously untapped oil reserves. By 2010, the nation boasted an impressive average income of $86,440 per person annually.
Beyond oil and gas revenues, Sheikh Hamad strategically invested billions in diverse businesses, including industry giants like Volkswagen, Total, Sainsbury’s, and Barclays bank. In 2018, he passed the throne to his fourth son, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad al Thani, ensuring the family’s continued leadership.
The Hermès Family
Estimated Wealth: $170.6 Billion
Company: Hermès
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The French luxury fashion house Hermès has long captivated the world with its exquisite range of products, from signature scarves and neckties to perfumes and the highly coveted Kelly and Birkin handbags. Originating in the 19th century, Thierry Hermès initially catered to the aristocracy by crafting high-quality riding apparel.
Today, Hermès extends its appeal to contemporary icons, dressing basketball star LeBron James, among others. Blending tradition with innovation, the brand also offers Hermès Apple Watches, with prices starting at $1,249, merging luxury with modern technology. Currently, Axel Dumas holds the position of company executive director, while Pierre-Alexis Dumas serves as the artistic executive vice president, guiding Hermès into the future.
The Koch Family
Estimated Wealth: $148.5 Billion
Company: Koch Industries
Charles Koch’s immense wealth originated from an oil business established by his father. However, he is now widely recognized for his significant influence in American politics. He has channeled substantial funds into supporting conservative candidates and libertarian think tanks, funding university professorships, and advocating for policy positions that align with a conservative agenda.
Charles worked alongside his brother David until David’s passing in 2019. Charles’s personal fortune is estimated at $58.5 billion, placing him among the world’s top billionaires. David’s widow, Julia Koch, and her family are also among the wealthiest, holding a net worth of $64.3 billion.
The Al Saud Family
Estimated Wealth: $140 Billion
Company: Saudi Royal Family
The House of Saud, the royal family of Saudi Arabia, boasts a monarchical lineage that spans nearly a century. Their vast fortune, estimated at $140 billion, has accumulated over decades through payments from the Royal Diwan, the king’s executive office.
Their strong ties to Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s most profitable companies and a dominant force in the oil industry, ensure the Saudi royal family’s continued financial growth. Accurately assessing the full extent of the House of Saud’s wealth is challenging, partly due to the family’s extensive network of approximately 15,000 members, many of whom have established businesses and secured government contracts, further diversifying their financial interests.
The Mars Family
Estimated Wealth: $133.8 Billion
Company: Mars Incorporated
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Mars Incorporated holds a position in the candy industry similar to Walmart’s in retail—a ubiquitous and immensely popular multigenerational family business. While originally known for the Mars bar, the company is now arguably more famous for M&Ms. Demonstrating diversification, Mars expanded into pet care in 2017 with the $9.1 billion acquisition of VCA, a pet care company.
Siblings Jacqueline and John Mars, grandchildren of founder Frank Mars, each possess a net worth of $38.5 billion, sharing a high rank on the Forbes billionaires list. The company’s leadership is now transitioning to the fourth generation of Mars family members, ensuring its continued family-run legacy.
Billionaire Count
In 2024, the world reached a record high of 2,781 billionaires, highlighting the increasing concentration of global wealth.
The Ambani Family
Estimated Wealth: $99.6 Billion
Company: Reliance Industries
Reliance Industries, an Indian conglomerate, is the sole Asian company featured in this list and may be less familiar to a Western audience.
However, CEO Mukesh Ambani, son of the company’s founder, holds a prominent position among the world’s wealthiest individuals. Overseeing Reliance’s diverse operations in refining, petrochemicals, oil and gas, and textiles, his brother Anil manages sectors including telecommunications, asset management, entertainment, and power generation, illustrating the family’s broad business portfolio.
The Wertheimer Family
Estimated Wealth: $88 Billion
Company: Chanel
Chanel, the iconic French high-fashion house, is celebrated for its timeless designs such as the “little black dress,” the legendary No.5 perfume, and the legacy of its late, influential designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Brothers Alain and Gerhard Wertheimer are the current co-owners of Chanel, inheriting the company that their grandfather established with founder Gabrielle Coco Chanel. Both brothers are consistently ranked among the top billionaires globally, each with a substantial net worth.
The Thomson Family
Estimated Wealth: $87.1 Billion
Company: Thomson Reuters
The Thomson family’s wealth is primarily derived from Thomson Reuters, the multinational media conglomerate. The family’s entrepreneurial journey began in the 1930s when Roy Thomson launched a radio station in Ontario, Canada, later expanding into newspaper publishing.
David Thomson, Roy Thomson’s grandson, currently serves as the chairman of Thomson Reuters. He is also recognized as one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, reflecting the continued success of the family’s media empire.
What Defines the Richest Family Worldwide?
The Walton family definitively holds the title of the richest family in the world, amassing a combined net worth exceeding $432 billion, primarily through their ownership of the retail behemoth Walmart.
Top 10 Wealthiest Families Globally
Here are the top 10 richest families in 2025, ranked by estimated wealth:
- Walton Family: $432 billion
- Al Nahyan Family: $323 billion
- Al Thani Family of Qatar: $172 billion
- Hermès Family: $170.6 billion
- Koch Family: $148.5 billion
- Saudi Royal Family: $140 billion
- Mars Family: $133.8 billion
- Ambani Family: $99.6 billion
- Wertheimer Family: $88 billion
- Thomson Family: $87.1 billion
Who are the World’s Richest Individuals?
As of February 15, 2025, the top three wealthiest individuals globally are Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon; and Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook (Meta).
The Wealth of the British Royal Family
The British Royal Family, while a subject of intense public curiosity and possessing numerous historical assets, presents a challenge in terms of accurately assessing their total wealth. Due to the vast and historically significant nature of their holdings, combined with a tradition of financial discretion, the precise extent of the Windsor family’s wealth remains largely unknown.
The Core Message
This compilation of wealthy families highlights those who have built their fortunes by establishing family businesses. While some, like Walmart, have evolved into publicly traded corporations, others, such as Mars Incorporated and Koch Industries, remain privately held family enterprises.
This list, while informative, might be interpreted in various ways, especially in the context of rising global inequality. It could be seen as a celebration of wealth, or conversely, as a reflection on consumption patterns and the evolving landscape of wealth distribution in the modern world. Furthermore, by focusing on families, it intentionally excludes the immense wealth accumulated by the world’s richest individuals acting independently.
