While self-made names like Jess Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg often dominate discussions about billionaires, many ultra-high-net-worth families would give them a run for their money. From Saudi royalty to the Waltons of Walmart fame, the combined wealth of these names eclipse many silicon valley superrich.
The top of the world rich list regularly fluctuates, with Larry Ellison making it to the top earlier this year, before Elon Musk reclaimed that position with a net worth of $444 billion, according to Bloomberg.
However, numerous members of the same families flood the top 100 list and when their respective fortunes are combined, their combined net worth reaches the hundreds of billions.
Spear’s has compiled a list of the world’s richest families, to show the astonishing peak of today’s UHNWs.
Related
[See also: Controversial ‘millionaire migration’ report subject to independent review]
The Walton Family, $462 billion
The Walton family owns shares in Walmart, which lies at the top of the Fortune 500 with net sales amounting to $642.6 billion in 2024. Their accumulative net worth surpasses $462 billion. Jim, Rob and Alice Walton are the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth individuals in the world, with personal fortunes of $128 billion, $125 billion and $125 billion respectively.
Their wealth is unsurprising, given their supermarket chain, which they collectively hold an approximate 46 per cent share of, is the largest of its kind in the US. Their retail empire was founded by Sam Walton in Rogers Arkansas in 1962, making fortune young in comparison to others on the list.
[See also: Flight risk: Britain’s super-rich are on the run]
Content from our partners
The House of Al Nahyan, $323.9 billion
The house of Al Nahyan are the rulers of Abu Dhabi, and their leader, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the president of the UAE. Their net worth is debated, with some claiming they are the second wealthiest family in the world, with a combined net worth of $323.9 billion.
It could however, be much less or far more, as the boundary dividing their private wealth and that of the nation of Abu Dhabi is unclear. Nonetheless, their fortune is virtually unmatched.
Due to the finite nature of oil, the family have recently diversified their investments, with the family recently acquiring a 15 per cent stake in TikTok.
[See also: The best accountants and tax advisers]
The House of Al Thani, $172.9 billion
Another middle eastern royal family with a debated net worth is the house of Al Thani, who have ruled over Qatar since the mid 19th century. With their large fortune originating in the discovery of swathes of oil and natural gas, the family, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is potentially as high as $172.9 billion.
However, as Emir of Qatar, the family’s wealth is heavily intertwined with that of the nation itself, making it difficult to say an exact figure with confidence.
The Hermès family, $170.6 billion
While luxury conglomerates LVMH and Kering own multiple brands, the Hermès family have majority control of their eponymous label, and very little else. The family, which contains members such as the company’s CEO Axel Dumas, has over 100 members with shares in the company, with their collective wealth being $170.6 billion. This splintered division of shares is owed to the company having been founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès, with the wealth being increasingly split as more generations of the family were born.
The roots of their wealth are deeply planted in leather, with the company starting as a riding equipment producer for Europe’s nobility. Nowadays, leather bags, silk scarves and fragrances are the focal point of their enterprise, with the Kardashians, a fellow billionaire dynasty, being known fans of their Birkin bags in particular.
[See also: What less Russian money and oligarchs leaving would mean for London]
The Koch family, $153.3 billion
This list is roughly divided into two camps: UHNW families with retail fortunes and those with money from natural resources and heavy industry. The Koch family’s combined $153.3 billion fortune comes from the latter. Their wealth is derived from Koch Industries, an oil refining company which started business in the 1940s in the US.
It is the second-largest privately owned company in the US, with founder Fred C. Koch’s son Charles and his other son’s widow Julia having fortunes of $73 billion and $80.3 billion respectively.
[See also: What the UK’s third-largest divorce settlement teaches us about coercive control]
The dynasties of tomorrow
What each of the families in the list above have in common is that they have a founder – whether that is a great-great-great-grandfather who started the family business in the case of Hermès, or forming a settlement in what is now Abu Dhabi in the late 18th century to eventually become hereditary rulers, like the Al Nahyans.
However, with centi-billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jess Bezos having multiple children each, new families will enter this list in the coming years as their wealth is divided amongst their offspring. Likewise, with the seemingly boundless potential of AI, it seems likely a new generation of multibillionaires is soon to come.
