Below you can find the list of 5 largest family-owned businesses in the world. For a detailed coverage of this topic and a more comprehensive list, please take a look at this article.
5. Tata Sons Private Limited
Total revenue in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 113
Total number of employees in 2019: 722,281
Tata Sons is one of the biggest conglomerates in India, and holds around 100 companies across several industries and sectors, which include chemical, consumer products, materials, services, information systems and energy. The company is over 150 years old.
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4. Exor N.V.
Total revenue in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 160.9
T0tal number of employees in 2019: 268,979
An Italian holding company, Exor is controlled by the famous Italian Agnelli family and is well known for its acquisition throughout more than a century, some of which include Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, CNH Industria, Ferrari and the Italian football team, Juventus F.C.
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3. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)
Total revenue in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 254.6
T0tal number of employees in 2019: 391,500
Berkshire Hathaway is the biggest financial services company in the world by revenue, famous for both its control and leadership by one of the richest men in the world for the past few decades in Warren Buffet. The company is also famous for its unique situation in having the highest valued A class shares in history, with a single share worth around $300,000. This is due to the lack of a stock split.
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2. Volkswagen AG
Total revenue in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 275.2
T0tal number of employees in 2019: 671,205
Volkswagen is a German car manufacturer, and for the last four years at least, has been the largest car manufacturer in the entire world, overtaking Toyota in 2016 and holding on to its lead ever since. It has had the biggest market share in Europe for at least twenty years, as it produces both luxury and normal passenger cars. Volkswagen owns some of the biggest car brands in the world including Audi, Bentley, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skoda and SEAT in addition to of course, Volkswagen itself.
Volkswagen engaged in one of the biggest scandals of the 21st century, when it designed its cars in a way to cheat the emissions tests, showing lower emissions ever as the actual emissions were over 35 to 40 times that of the regulatory limit. After its discovery, Volkswagen has to call back a potential 482,000 vehicles while facing around $18 billion in fines as well. To resolve their scandal, including restitution, penalties and vehicle callbacks, the whole thing is set to cost the company around $30 billion.
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1. Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Total revenue in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 524
T0tal number of employees in 2019: 2,200,000
Easily topping the list of the 5 largest family-owned businesses in the world is Walmart, which in terms of revenue is by far the biggest company in the world and is the only company in the world to have revenue crossing half a billion dollars. In addition, it is also the biggest employer in the world with 2.2 million employees, and by any metric is easily among the biggest companies in the world, regardless of industry or ownership.
It’s never easy being the biggest family-owned company in the world, and Walmart has had more than its fair share of controversies, some of which include allegations of discrimination on the bases of race and gender. Perhaps the biggest criticism of the company has been its treatment of laborers, including paying them lower wages even as the family increases its billions. In Mexico, the company received a ruling from the court that it could not pay employees in vouchers that were only reimbursable in Walmart, which is a draconian rule to implement by a company. In 2008, the company paid $352 million in a settlement against lawsuits claiming that the company forced its employees to work overtime off the clock, not getting compensated for their achievements.
See also: 15 largest family owned businesses in the US and 11 Biggest Family Offices in the World
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