The world’s 6 richest families revealed – from India’s Ambani empire and the Hermès family’s Birkin billions to America’s Mars candy dynasty
- Leatherworkers Hermès started out making riding tack and now craft super-coveted Birkin bags, while the secretive Mars family own famous brands M&Ms and Snickers
- Alice Walton collects pricey art by the likes of Andy Warhol and Georgia O’Keeffe, while Charles Koch and his late brother David own lucrative property
The richest families in the world have been given the gift of extreme wealth thanks to the generations that came before them. Through innovative ideas now and then, they’ve managed to diversify and broaden their wealth, ensuring their legacy of luxury continues.
Here we look at how the six family’s rated the world’s wealthiest, according to Bloomberg, got mega rich – and how they spend all their money.
The Walton family
Wealth: US$238.2bn
Company: Walmart (Consumer retail)
The Waltons are the “Walmart family” as they own the world’s largest retailer by revenue, with the family fortune estimated at US$238 billion according to Bloomberg. Walmart was founded in 1962 in Arkansas by Sam Walton. He had four children with Helen Robson, named Rob, John, Jim and Alice. According to Insider the family choose to live a moderate lifestyle despite their extraordinary wealth.
But there are splurges. Sam’s eldest son Samuel Robson – usually known simply as Rob – has a large collection of vintage cars. Alice has never had an active role in the business and chose to become a patron of the arts, reports Insider. Her private collection reportedly includes the works of Andy Warhol and Georgia O’Keeffe. In 2014, she spent US$44.4 million on an O’Keeffe painting, the highest price ever paid for a piece of art by a woman, reports The Observer.