The World’s Richest Families in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t stopped the world’s wealthiest families from growing their fortunes. Over the past year, the richest family—the Waltons—grew their wealth by $25 billion, or almost $3 million per hour.
This graphic, using data from Bloomberg, ranks the 25 most wealthy families in the world. The data excludes first-generation wealth and wealth controlled by a single heir, which is why you don’t see Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates on the list. Families whose source of wealth is too diffused or opaque to be valued are also excluded.
The Full Breakdown
Intergenerational wealth is a powerful thing. It often prevails through market crashes, social turmoil, and economic uncertainty, and this year has been no exception.
Here’s a look at the 25 most wealthy families in 2020:
</tabl
| Rank | Name | Company | Wealth, $B | Sector | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walton | Walmart | 215 | Consumer services | 🇺🇸 Bentonville, Arkansas |
| 2 | Mars | Mars | 120 | Consumer goods | 🇺🇸 McLean, Virginia |
| 3 | Koch | Koch Industries | 109.7 | Industrials | 🇺🇸 Wichita, Kansas |
| 4 | Al Saud | N/A | 95 | Industrials | 🇸🇦 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| 5 | Ambani | Reliance Industries | 81.3 | Industrials | 🇮🇳 Mumbai, India |
| 6 | Hermès | Hermès | 63.9 | Consumer services | 🇫🇷 Paris, France |
| 7 | Wertheimer | Chanel | 54.4 | Consumer services | 🇫🇷 Paris, France |
| 8 | Johnson (Fidelity) | Fidelity Investments | 46.3 | Financials | 🇺🇸 Boston, New York |
| 9 | Boehringer, Von Baumbach | Boehringer Ingelheim | 45.7 | Health care | 🇩🇪 Inglheim, Germany |
| %2 |
The Waltons are the richest family on the list by far, with a net worth of $215 billion—that’s $95 billion more than the second wealthiest family. Sam Walton, the family’s patriarch, founded Walmart in 1962. Since then, it’s become the world’s largest retailer by revenue.
When Sam passed away in 1992, his three children—James, Alice, and Rob—inherited his fortune. Now, the trio co-owns about half of Walmart.
In second place is the Mars family, with a net worth of $120 billion. The family is well-known for their candy empire, but interestingly, about half of the company’s value comes from pet care holdings. Mars Inc. owns several popular pet food brands, including Pedigree, Cesar, and Royal Canin—and it expanded its pet presence further in 2017 when it acquired VCA, a company with almost 800 small animal vet hospitals across the U.S. and Canada.
The Koch family is the world’s third-richest family. Their fortune is rooted in an oil firm founded by Fred C. Koch. Following Fred’s death in 1967, the firm was inherited by his four sons—Frederick, Charles, David, and William. After a family feud, Frederick and William left the business, and Charles and David went on to build the mega industrial conglomerate known as Koch Industries.
Despite being affected by the oil crash this year, the Koch family’s wealth still sits at $109.7 billion. Before David’s passing in 2019, he and his brother Charles were heavily involved in politics—and their political efforts were the subject of much scrutiny.
Richest Families, by Sector
It’s important to note that many of these families have diversified their investments across a variety of industries. For instance, while the Koch family’s wealth is largely concentrated in the industrial sector and commodities, they also dabble in real-estate—in May 2020, they made a $200 million bet on U.S. rental homes.
That being said, it’s interesting to see where each of these families started, and which sectors have bred the highest number of ultra-wealthy families.
