Lifestyle7 min(s) read
30 Filthy Rich Families We Wish We'd Been Born Into
If you weren't born into abundant wealth, then you've probably played the lotto a few times hoping that it'll happen, right? Come on, a show of hands. I am still waiting for my parents to tell me, "Just kidding, we're actually secret billionaires, we were just trying to instill a sense of humility in you. Even still in this day and age, millennials are finding it difficult to get off the struggle bus. So, let's fantasize at how the other half live (no harm) by taking a look at the 30 riches families in the world.
[post_page_title]The Mulliez Family[/post_page_title]
Boasting a net worth of $37.5 billion, this French family seems to be doing alright for themselves. The Mulliez family have been enjoyed being retail royalty since the 19th century when the family patriarch, Louis Mulliez-Lestienne, founded Phildar - a clothing store chain that began in the northern French city of Roubaix.
Louis's grandson Gérard Mulliez (above) then became inspired in 1961 to set up supermarket chain Auchan, which was based on the American self-service style. It has been going well ever since and remains family-owned.
[post_page_title]The Ma Family[/post_page_title]
This Chinese family has a whopping $39 billion to spend. Talk about crazy, rich Asians. Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, is the co-founder of tech conglomerate Tencent, which was started up in 1998 out of the city of Shenzhen.
Tencent is now Asia's most valuable business, as well as being the world's largest gaming company, along with and one of the world's most prominent social media firms. So there's no surprise that Pony Ma became quite rich in the process. He married Wang Dan-ting, and together the couple have a daughter named Manlin. Lucky only child, am I right?
[post_page_title]The Ballmer Family[/post_page_title]
Steve Ballmer was a college dropout who got lucky as he was hired by Bill Gates in 1980 and then served as Microsoft's CEO from 2000 to 2014. Steve has left Microsoft, and since then he is the sole proprietor of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, as well as having recently sold a 4% stake in Twitter.
Steve got married to Connie Snyder in 1990, and together they have three sons. Steve and his wife are big philanthropists. That is nice to hear that they're sharing some of the $41.5 billion fortune with others.
[post_page_title]The Boehringer-Von Baumbach Family[/post_page_title]
This family's $42.2 billion dollar fortune dates back to the foundation of Boehringer Ingelheim in 1885 in Germany, by Albert Boehringer. The company initially produced tartaric acid for the food industry, but eventually branched out to include pharmaceuticals.
In the present day, Boehringer Ingelheim stands among the 20 biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, turning a cool $25.1 billion annually. The Boehringer Ingelheim company is still family-run, with Boehringer's descendant Hubertus von Baumbach acting as company chairman.
[post_page_title]The Cargill-MacMillan Family[/post_page_title]
Imagine coming from a family that has 14 billionaires in the family? The Cargill-MacMillan family is worth $42.3 billion and has more billionaires in the family than any other family.
This rich family has a total of 23 family members, all who share in the $42.3 billion fortune which comes from the family's agribusiness firm Cargill Inc. It is also America's largest privately-owned company. Christmas must be a fun event with all those billionaires.
[post_page_title]The Quandt Family[/post_page_title]
Industrialist Günther Quandt founded this company back in the 1910s. Eventually, the firm would grow to become the BMW Group that we know today. In fact, some of us may even drive their products, or know someone who does. The family has a fortune worth $42.7 billion.
Günther Quandt's descendants have managed to maintain a controlling stake in the multinational automaker. The BMW Group the parent company of Rolls-Royce and Mini. Altogether the company generates nearly $100 billion in revenue, annually. The company is now divided share-wise amongst Günther's grandchildren with grandson Stefan Quandt owning a 23.7% share, and granddaughter Suzanne Klatten controlling 19.2%.
[post_page_title]The Bettencourt Family[/post_page_title]
This French family, comprised of Françoise Bettencourt Meyers and her sons Nicolas and Jean-Victor, inherited a 33% stake in well-known global cosmetics company L'Oréal in 2017. Following the passing of her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, and the 65-year-old author is now the richest woman in the world, with $48.2 billion in her pocket.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the granddaughter of L'Oréal founder Eugéne Schueller. While she has inherited the business, Bettencourt Meyers is first-and-foremost a writer who spends a lot of time writing Bible commentaries meant to improve Jewish-Christian relations.
[post_page_title]The Bloomberg Family[/post_page_title]
Worth $48.5 billion, the patriarch of this American family, Michael Bloomberg, made his fortune after becoming founder, CEO, and owner of Bloomberg LP - his eponymous media, financial services and software firm - back in 1981. Prior to that, he'd spent time gaining experience in the New York securities brokerage Salomon Brothers.
Nowadays, Bloomberg has served as mayor for New York City three times! He's also quite the philanthropist, having given away $8 billion to date. The rest of his billions he shares with his partner Diana Taylor, as well as his two daughters, Georgina and Emma.
[post_page_title]The Dumas Family[/post_page_title]
The Dumas family are owners of a fashion world staple: Hermès. The company which specializes in luxury goods was founded in 1837 by patriarch Thierry Hermès. Back then, it was only a Parisian harness workshop, before it developed into high-end fashion and luxury goods business that we know today.
Part of that transformation into a fashion powerhouse was thanks to the late Jean-Louis Dumas, as well as the current CEO, Axel Dumas, who keeps the family's $49.2 billion fortune growing.
[post_page_title]The Brin Family[/post_page_title]
Computer scientist Sergey Brin, along with Larry Page, was the co-founder of Google way back in 1998. Since then he has been serving as the president of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc. If you google his net worth, you'll find that he's got a cool $51.1 billion in his pocket.
Brin has two kids with his ex-wife Anne Wojcicki. She is the co-founder and CEO of personal genomics firm 23andMe. That has made her independently wealthy and worth about $480 million. You go, girl!
[post_page_title]The Ambani Family[/post_page_title]
This family's fortune dates back to 1965 when Indian tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani co-founded Reliance Industries, Ambani, transformed his Mumbai textile company into one of the largest conglomerates in India.
Ambani passed away in 2002, passing on the roles of chairman, MD and majority shareholder to his son, Mukesh. The Ambani family is worth an incredible $52.3 billion. Mukesh's brother Anil runs a separate family business known as the Reliance Group. While he's still wealthy and worth $1.9 billion, it's significantly less than Mukesh. Although if I were Anil I wouldn't complain, I'd love to have $1.9 billion to my name.
[post_page_title]The Page Family[/post_page_title]
Only slightly ahead of his Google co-founder, Larry Page has amassed $52.4 billion in wealth. But that is only because he is the CEO of Alphabet Inc., for which he gets paid a little bit more per year.
Page shares his wealth with his wife Lucinda Southworth, who is a biomedical scientist and philanthropist, as well as with their two children.
[post_page_title]The Albrecht Family[/post_page_title]
For anyone who loves to shop in Aldi for their cheap groceries, you can thank the late Albrecht brothers, Karl and Leo. The founded the grocery store chain back in 1946 in Essen. However, the supermarket chain later split into two different Aldis -Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd - in 1960, after the brothers had a major disagreement as to whether or not stock cigarettes.
Both Aldi groups managed to expand internationally. Aldi Nord went on to buy the American grocery chain Trader Joe's in 1979. Aldi Nord is now managed by Karl's children Beate Heister and Karl Albrecht Jr. Aldi Süd went on to Theo's son. The family has an amassed fortune of $58.2 billion.
[post_page_title]The Chakri Family[/post_page_title]
This Thai family has been the ruling royal family of Thailand for the past 237 years. The country continues to treat the family with the utmost respect and reverence. The family has 22 members of the royal family, with the current King, Maha Vajiralongkorn, being the head of household.
Altogether, this royal family is believed to own $60 billion in assets through the Crown Property Bureau. This would include extensive tracts of valuable real estate in central Bangkok, as well as multiple shares invested in the luxury hotel group, Kempinski.
[post_page_title]The Ellison Family[/post_page_title]
Larry Ellison has quite the resume. He's the co-founder, executive chairman and CTO of the Oracle Corporation. This New York City native is among the world's wealthiest tech entrepreneurs, in addition to being a fond yachtsman, aviator, and a philanthropist. He has a net worth of $61.8 billion.
Having a dad that rich makes your creative dreams easy to achieve. Both his kids are in the entertainment industry. His daughter Megan is a film producer and has been involved in successful films such as Zero Dark Thirty and American Hustle. His son David is the founder and CEO of Skydance Media.
[post_page_title]The Zuckerberg Family[/post_page_title]
You knew that this family was going to make the list. Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder of Facebook, that wonderful social media platform that connects all the family members we'd rather block. He's currently the seventh richest person on the planet, having fallen from third wealthiest last year thanks to a dramatic fall in his company's share prices.
I mean, the seventh wealthiest person still isn't that bad considering the rest of us paupers out here trying to save for a mortgage. The Facebook billionaire shares his $63 billion dollar fortune with his wife Priscilla Chan and their two daughters, Max and August Zuckerberg. He's also planning to give away a generous amount of his money to charity. The only question is, can I count as charity?
[post_page_title]The Slim Family[/post_page_title]
From 2010 to 2013, the richest person in the world was Carlos Slim Helú. Much like Zuckerberg, Carlos fell down the rankings a bit, but he's still able to brag about a comfortable $64.9 billion net worth.
The Mexican tycoon shares his wealth with his six children. He made his fortune with the conglomerate Grupo Carso, as well as the subsidiaries América Móvil and Telmex. His son Carlos Slim Domit is the current chairman of Grupo Carso.
[post_page_title]The Mars Family[/post_page_title]
This American family has a wealth to the tune of $70.8 billion. When real-life Willy Wonka, Forrest Mars Sr. passed away in 1991, he passed on the candy and pet food empire, Mars, Inc., his father had founded way back in 1911, to his three kids: Jacqueline, Forrest Mars Jr. and John Mars.
The Mars siblings completely the company. The company, which is more of an empire, has loads of popular brands that anyone would recognize, such as Snickers, M&Ms, Uncle Ben's and Dolmio. Every year it sees a giant $35 billion revenue intake.
[post_page_title]The Ortega Family[/post_page_title]
Can't live without a little retail therapy in Zara? Thank the Ortega family from Spain. All retail purchases you make go to line their $71 billion dollar pockets. Fast-fashion retailer Amancio Ortega and his late ex-wife Rosalía Mera opened their first Zara store way back in 1975 in Coruña in northwest Spain.
The couple initially called their store Zorba after "Zorba the Greek," before changing the name. The fashion clothing store is part of the Ortega's Inditex group which includes other brands like Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Pull&Bear. The Inditex group turns an annual $28.9 million profit annually. Not bad at all.
[post_page_title]The Arnault Family[/post_page_title]
France's luxury goods conglomerate LVMH was founded in 1987 by Bernard Arnault. The conglomerate controls some of the world's most iconic and prestigious brands, such as Dior, Givenchy and Dom Pérignon. As a result, his family has a $77 billion dollar fortune.
Arnault is a very active participant in his company, taking on the responsibilities of chairman and CEO. His children are also heavily involved in the family business. His daughter Delphine is the director and executive vice president, while his son Antoine heads the LVMH companies Berluti and Loro Piana. Arnault's youngest son, Alexandre, is the CEO of Rimowa.
[post_page_title]The Buffet Family[/post_page_title]
Wouldn't it be nice to be the third richest person in the world? That would make you Warren Buffet - the genius investor who has been the chairman and largest shareholder of the largely-successful holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, since 1970.
For having net worth is $85.7 billion, Warren Buffet actually lives a relatively modest lifestyle, along with his family. He has also promised to give away more than 99% of his fortune either during his life or when he passes away.
[post_page_title]The Gates Family[/post_page_title]
Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft, the world's second most valuable company, and the second richest person in the world. The Gates family has a net worth of $96.6, and to date, billionaire Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates, have given away more$50 billion through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The rich couple have three children of their own, but also have their charitable organization - the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - which is like their fourth baby, which was established back in 2000 in order to help eradicate hunger, extreme poverty, and preventable disease.
[post_page_title]The Koch Family[/post_page_title]
This American family is worth $100.6 billion. Fred C. Koch founded what would become the game-changing, oil refining company, Koch Industries, back in 1940. Fred passed on the family business to his four sons in 1967 after he passed away.
Then, there was a bit of a Cain and Abel tiff when Charles and David successfully sued their brothers Bill and Frederick for control of the company back in the 80s and 90s. Charles and David each own a 42% stake in the company, giving them each a net worth of $49.8 billion. Their brothers, Bill and Frederick, are worth substantially less.
[post_page_title]The Bezos Family[/post_page_title]
It's a small wonder that the richest person in America is Jeff Bezos. The billionaire is worth $135 billion, having amassed his fortune from his incredibly popular company, Amazon, which was founded in 1994.
The self-made billionaire has four children with novelist MacKenzie, from whom he is currently separated. The couple may also be entering the world record books soon for having the most costly divorce in history. And they say money can't buy happiness.
[post_page_title]Al Nahyan Family[/post_page_title]
The Al Nahyan family is of the House of Nahyan, which has been the reigning royal family since 1973 in Abu Dhabi. The family has derived the bulk of their $150 billion dollar fortune from oil. Big surprise as to why they're doing so well for themselves.
The family consists of 200 male members, while it's not known exactly how many female family members there are. The head of the family is Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is not only the leader of the UAE, but he is also chair of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority manages $875 billion in assets, including the world's tallest building which is Dubai's very own Burj Khalifa skyscraper.[[pagebreak]]
[post_page_title]The Walton Family[/post_page_title]
The Waltons are America's family that gave us Walmart, the supermarket giant that they control 50% of. Walmart is also the world's largest business in terms of revenue, easily turning over an annual $500.3 billion profit.
The $168.3 billion family fortune is divided between the living heirs and brothers, Sam and James. They are the ones who founded the company in Arkansas way back in 1962. Their descendants who will take over it one day are Christy, Rob, Alice, and Jim.
[post_page_title]The Al Thani Family[/post_page_title]
Another ruling family of the Middle East, the House of Thani has been the ruling family of Qatar since the mid-19th century. The family is headed by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who is also the country's leader. The Al Thani family is said to number in the thousands, possibly around 7,000 or 8,000! Damn, that is a lot of cousins!
Lucky for them, this family has a worth of around $335 billion in a sovereign wealth fund. This wealth fund also has such assets tied to it like London's Shard skyscraper, Harrod's department store, and a few hefty stakes in famous companies like Volkswagon and Tiffany & Co.
[post_page_title]The Al-Sabah Family[/post_page_title]
What is up with having more than a couple family members? The Al-Sabah family is yet another ruling family which is said to have some 1,000 family members to it. The Al-Sabah dynasty has ruled Kuwait for 267 years. Currently, the head of household is also the country's current emir: Sheikh Sabah IV Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
In 1991, the dynasty's wealth, much of which is tied to US stocks and shares, was estimated by Time magazine to be an astonishing $90 billion. But since then, the family fortune has pretty much quadrupled over time and now, they are worth $360 billion!
[post_page_title]The Saudi Family[/post_page_title]
The richest family in the world is vastly wealthy by a long shot. The royal Saudi family, for which Saudi Arabia bears its name, has been the ruling family since 1744. Their worth is so incredible, it's uncomfortable to think about: $1.4 trillion.
The family's unimaginable wealth is spread throughout their gigantic 15,000 family members. However, the current King Salman controls most of it along with his highly controversial son Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and their close relatives.