1. Walton
All members of the family together have $151.5 billion. The Waltons own the world's largest chain of Walmart stores. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962. Today, there are more than 5,000 Walmart stores and offices in the United States, and the staff amounts to 1.5 million people.
It is noteworthy that in 2016 the family was impoverished by $19 billion because of the charitable gifts that the son of Sam Walton John made before his death in a car accident in 2006. John gave half of his fortune to charitable foundations ($17 billion), and a third part - to his only son, Lucas.
In the list of heirs, there are also Jim and Sam, the sons of Sam Walton.
2. Koch
The second place in the ranking is held by the Koch family. Sons of the founder of the Koch Industries corporation, Fred Koch, Charles and David in total own almost $99 billion. Fred Koch earned a fortune building refineries for the USSR. He forced his four sons, Charles (heir), Frederic and twins David and Bill, to work from morning till night. After the death of Koch Sr. in 1967, two fateful moments for the family followed. Charles made a big risky deal with success, after which a split inside the family occurred. Frederic and Bill tried to seize power in the family business. This all dragged on for a decade of litigation. David supported Charles, and to this day he does not communicate with his twin brother Bill.
3. Mars
Fortune: $89.7 billion
The heirs of the founder of the company of the same name, Frank Mars, in turn, have a fortune estimated at almost $88 billion. Franklin Mars started as a modest seller of sweets.
Now Victoria Mars, the eldest daughter of Forrest Jr., is the face of the Mars family and the chairman of the board of directors. Virtually all of her sisters and cousins are involved in the family business in one way or another.
Mars is best known for products such as M&Ms, Milky Way, and Mars Bars.
4. Van Damme, de Mevius and de Spoelberch
The fourth place of the rating is taken by several families who own the Anheuser-Busch InBev international company which is the largest beer producer in the world by far.
Bloomberg estimated the total fortune of its owners at $54 billion.
5. Dumas
The heirs of the founder of the Hermes fashion brand got the fifth place among the world's richest families. Together, they have slightly more than $49 billion. The French fashion house began with a workshop for the manufacture of equipment for crews and riding, opened in 1837 by the family of Protestants Ermes.
In 1951 the company passed into the hands of Robert Dumas who was the son-in-law of Emile-Maurice Hermes, the grandson of the founder.
6. Verteimer
The Verteimer family runs the Chanel fashion house from 1924, when the legendary Mademoiselle Coco enlisted the support of Pierre Verteimer having founded the company Les Parfums Chanel.
In 1971, after the death of the designer, the management of the company was completely transferred to this family. Now the brothers Gerard and Alain manage the company, and their fortune is estimated at $456 billion.
7. Ambani
India's richest man Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani manages the Reliance Industries Indian company being the sole owner. This is the largest company in the private sector of India. The share of Ambani in the firm is 48%, his fortune is estimated at $43.4 billion.
8. Quandt
The family's fortune, according to Bloomberg, estimates at $42.7 billion. Günther Quandt purchased BMW shares and the AFA (Varta) factory. Motors and batteries were in great demand. In addition, Quandt also supplied the army with potash for shells, and radiators for trucks and tractors and much more.
During the nine postwar years, Günther Quandt created a prosperous business empire which included about two hundred firms. After the death of Günther Quandt in 1954 in Cairo, where he went to vacation, his sons Herbert and Harald inherited the third largest state in Germany.
9. Cargill, MacMillan
Cargill-MacMillan is one of America's richest families which managed to turn a granary on the outskirts of Iowa into a multi-billion dollar business. About 90% of the shares belong to about a hundred heirs bearing the names of Cargill and MacMillan.
14 people of them are billionaires, more than in any other clan both in the US and abroad.
The general fortune of this family is $42.3 billion.
10. Von Baumbach and Boehringer
Boehringer Ingelheim remains a family company for 130 years. Now it is the property of the Boehringer family and the von Baumbach family, their fortune is estimated at $42.2 billion. Family members are members of the supervisory board and are actively involved in the management of the company.
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