I World’s Top 5 Ultra-Rich Families

Billionaires

World’s Top 5 Ultra-Rich Families

The world’s wealthiest families have amassed fortunes either from inheriting businesses, or from building multibillion-dollar empires from the ground up for next-in-line successors. Here are the world’s richest billionaire families according to Forbes data, with net worths as of August 10, 2022.

1. Bernard Arnault & family

Net worth: $170.7 billion Citizenship: France

Europe’s richest man Arnault oversees LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The group’s fashion and leather goods business, which carries high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, and Celine, Loro Piana and Loewe made up 49.4% of its $37.7 billion in revenues in the first half of 2022. It acquired Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion in January 2021, adding it to its portfolio of over 75 brands. In July 2022, Arnault announced the restructuring of the family holding company Agache to a limited joint-stock partnership designed to equally hand the group’s control to his five children: Delphine, Antoine, Alexandre, Frédéric and Jean. Collectively, Arnault and his family owns 47.99% of LVMH group’s share capital, with 63.7% of voting rights as of June 2022.

2. Gautam Adani & family

Net worth: $129.1 billion Citizenship: India

Adani officially became Asia’s richest person in February 2022 and the world’s fourth wealthiest person in July, according to Forbes. He chairs the Adani Group, which comprises seven public companies, collectively valued at $223.5 billion as of August 10, 2022, spanning energy, logistics, mining, gas, defense, and airports. In May 2022, the group announced its $10.5 billion acquisition of Swiss giant Holcim’s cement business in India. A partnership with TotalEnergies followed in June to create the world’s largest green hydrogen ecosystem, where Adani plans to invest $50 billion by 2032.

3. Carlos Slim Helu & family

Net worth: $82.3 billion Citizenship: Mexico

Telecom magnate Slim is Mexico’s wealthiest person. Together with his family, he controls América Móvil, which provides telecommunications services in 24 countries across Latin America, the U.S., the Caribbean, and Europe. As of March 2022, the Slim family owned 53% of the company’s AA shares and 15.9% of its L shares via a family trust. Members of the family hold direct shares of América Móvil, but none of them individually own more than 5%, except the 82-year-old billionaire who has a 9.1% stake of the company’s AA shares and 7.7% of L shares under his name. More than 8% of Slim’s wealth also comes from his family’s 79% stake in Grupo Carso, one of Latin America’s largest conglomerates.

4. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family

Net worth: $74 billion Citizenship: France

The world’s richest woman, Bettencourt Meyers and her family, owe much of their fortune to their inheritance of L’Oreal Groupe, the French cosmetics and beauty company her chemist grandfather Eugène Schueller founded in 1909. The L’Oreal heiress is currently vice-chairwoman of the board and has been a director since 1997. Her two sons Jean-Victor and Nicolas also serve on the board. As of December 2021, the BettencourtMeyers family held 33.3% of L’Oreal stock. The L’Oreal group of companies has 35 global brands, employs 85,400 people worldwide, and operates in over 150 countries.

Bernard Arnault

5. Julia Koch & family

Net worth: $56.5 billion Citizenship: U.S.

Koch is the widow of late billionaire David Koch, from whom she and her three children inherited a 42% stake in Koch Industries, which was America’s second-largest privately held company in 2021, according to Forbes. Koch sits on the board of Koch Industries, which has businesses in chemicals, refining, paper products and software, and a workforce of 120,000 people in more than 70 countries. It is controlled by David’s brother Charles, the company’s longserving billionaire chairman and CEO since 1967. Koch manages her late husband’s foundation, which has so far given away $200 million.