The top 500 family businesses in the world

David Bain

more employment than their non-family

business counterparts.

David Bain
David Bain is the founder of Family Capital, a specialist news analysis website that
specializes in global family businesses, which was founded in last year. He has been
commentating on family business for more than ten years, having edited Campden
Family Business magazine for five years. David has worked for Dow Jones, The
Economist Group, Euromoney and Schroders Investment Management. He is a
graduate of the London School of Economics, University of London.

The first ever list of top family businesses

shows how they drive global economic
growth and employment.
The top 500 family businesses in the
world contributed US$6.5t to global
GDP in 2013 more than the combined
contribution made by the French and
German economies. In the same year,
they employed 20.9 million people,
greater than the entire workforce of
South Africa.
These are among some of the illuminating
facts revealed by the first ever definitive
ranking of the 500 largest family
businesses in the world. The Global Family
Business Index, published by forbes.com
182 | EY Family Business Yearbook 2015

compiled by St Gallen University, with the

support of EY, ranks the worlds biggest
family businesses in terms of revenue.
The ranking also quantifies who owns
the business, how much they own, how
many people they employ and when the
business was founded.
The index underlines the sizeable
role that family businesses play in the
world economy. In 2013, the top 500
contributed more than half of what the
entire Fortune 500 companies did in
terms of revenues.* But when it comes to
employment, the 500 family businesses
on the index employed more than twothirds of those employed by the Fortune
500.* So family businesses generate

Family businesses are, of course, found

all around the world. But nearly half
of the 500 (238) are based in Western
Europe, with the big three Eurozone
economies Germany (94), Italy (31)
and France (28) home to 153 of them.
The single biggest number is for the US,
home to 101 of the top 500. Asia-Pacific
has 60 businesses on the list, with Indias
contribution by far the biggest number
at 25.
Latin America is home to 36 family
businesses on the list, with Mexico and
Brazil contributing 15 each. The Middle
East, including Turkey and Israel, had
14, with 6 of them in Turkey. And subSaharan Africa was represented by one
business, in South Africa.
Ninety of the 500 are in the retail and
wholesale sectors, with diversified
industrial holding companies and
consumer goods businesses accounting
for 85 and 76 respectively. Interestingly,
few top 500 family businesses are found
in the banking (11) and technology (12)
sectors.

The Global Family Business Index

underlines how important family
businesses are to the world economy,
says Thomas Zellweger, Professor of
Business Administration at the University
of St Gallen and the lead analyst for the
Index. Indeed, the fact that more than
40% of the 500 have been around for at
least four generations is testament to
the longevity and stability of the family
business model. Many on the ranking are
exemplars of patience capital, which is
prevalent throughout the family business
world and is crucial to generating secure
employment.
Other key facts from the rankings
include:
Forty-four percent of the 500 are
owned by either the fourth generation
or older. This throws doubt on the
conventional wisdom that most family
businesses last just three generations
or, as the often-cited old adage goes:
from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in
three generations.
Many of the 500 are household names,
such as Wal-Mart, BMW and IKEA. But
few people view these businesses as
family owned, despite the fact that

almost all of them have been around

for at least 30 years.
The split between private and public
businesses is pretty much even, with
260 publically listed and the rest 100%
privately owned.
In per capita terms, Switzerland has
by far the most big family businesses,
with 17, followed by the Netherlands
with 16.
The 10 largest family businesses have a
combined revenue of US$1.74t. This is
more than the size of the worlds 12th
largest economy, Australia (GDP of
US$1.56t in 2013).
Although there are only a few family
businesses in banking, there are many
in asset management, with the sector
accounting for 34 of the 500.
The capital-intensive automotive
sector also accounts for a significant
percentage of the 500. Big names in the
sector, such as Volkswagen, BMW, Ford
and Peugeot, are joined on the list by
a number of lesser known automotive
component companies.

EY Family Business Yearbook 2015 | 183

The GAP

The top 500 family businesses in the world

Mercadona Sa

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Thomson Reuters Corp

Hallmark Cards Incorporated

S. C. Johnson & Son Inc.

Prada SpA

Tengelmann Warenhandelsgesellschaft KG

Hermes International

Beiersdorf AG

IKEA Group Miele & Cie. KG

The Hershey Co. Kohler Co.

Groupe Auchan Heineken Holding N.V.

Deichmann SE

Strauss & Co. El Corte Ingles Sa

Volkswagen AG Levi
Mccain Foods Group Inc

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)

Ferrero International Sa

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. E. & J. Gallo Winery

Ford Motor Company

De Agostini

C&A Mode AG

Tetra Laval International SA

Cargill, Incorporated Majid Al Futtaim Holding LLC

LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA

184 | EY Family Business Yearbook 2015

Tata Motors Limited

Mars Incorporated
PEUGEOT SA

Wipro Ltd.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd

Edizione Srl

Roche Holding AG (Roche Group)

H & M Hennes & Mauritz

HTC Corp.

Lego A/S

Porsche Automobil Holding SE

When the University of St Gallen started

to compile the Global Family Business
Index, EY decided to lend its support,
says Peter Englisch, Global Family
Business Leader at EY. We felt there
was a lack of clear understanding about
the magnitude of the role that family
companies play in the global economy.
Im confident that the index will become
the definitive benchmark of the size and
importance of the sector. But like any
business, families running corporations
often have their own set of challenges
and risks, including succession, family
and corporate governance, financing,
entrepreneurship and professional
management.

Methodology
For the ranking, a family business
is defined as follows: for a privately
held business, the family must control
more than 50% of the voting rights; for
a publicly listed business, the family
must control at least 32% of the voting
rights.
It is generally assumed that 30% of
the votes in a publicly listed business
are sufficient to dominate the general
assembly. This is because roughly
60% of the votes are present in the
general assembly. Nevertheless,
the Family 500 decided to be more
conservative and used a 32% cut-off
for the classification of publicly listed
businesses.

*The Fortune 500 total revenues for 2013 were

US$12.2t and the total number employed by them
was 26.4 million.
All GDP and employment figures used for
comparison are from the World Bank databank.

EY Family Business Yearbook 2015 | 185

The top 500 family businesses in the world

Global Family Business Index top 25

The Global Family Business Index comprises the largest 500 family
firms around the globe. It provides impressive evidence of the
economic power and relevance of family firms in the world.
The index is compiled by the Center for Family Business at
the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, in cooperation with
EY Global Family Business Center of Excellence.

We present you here the top 25 by revenue, and the oldest

25 family businesses. We encourage you to find more interesting
details about the top 500 family businesses on
http://familybusinessindex.com.

The 25 oldest family businesses

The top 25 by revenue

Rank

Latest reported
Revenue (US$b)

Founding
Year

Founding
Year
Company Name

HQ Location

EY sector

Takenaka Corporation

Japan

Real Estate and construction

Company Name

HQ Location

Sector

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

United States

Retail and Wholesale

476.3

1962

1610

Latest reported
Revenue (US$b)

No. of
employees
(Bloomberg)

9.7

7,335

Volkswagen AG

Germany

Automotive

261.6

1937

1668

Merck KGaA

Germany

Life Sciences

14.2

38,154

Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.

United States

Asset management

182.2

1955

1704

Wendel SA

France

Diversified industrial products

8.5

71,985

EXOR SpA

Italy

Asset management

151.1

1927

1736

Wadia Group of Companies

India

Diversified industrial products

2.8

15,000

Ford Motor Company

United States

Automotive

146.9

1903

1756

Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH

Germany

Diversified industrial products

4.8

11,525

Cargill, Incorporated

United States

Retail and Wholesale

136.7

1865

1786

Molson Coors Brewing Co.

United States

Consumer Products

4.2

9,250

Koch Industries Inc.

United States

Diversified industrial products

115.0

1940

1792

Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA

Portugal

Retail and Wholesale

15.7

76,810

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)

Germany

Automotive

101.0

1916

1799

Thomson Reuters Corp

United States

Media and entertainment

12.7

57,800

Schwarz Group

Germany

Retail and Wholesale

89.4

1930

1804

Schroders plc

United Kingdom

Asset management

2.8

3,304

10

Groupe Auchan

France

Asset management

85.5

1961

1805

DIeteren SA

Belgium

Automotive

7.3

27,246

11

Arcelor Mittal

Luxembourg

Diversified industrial products

79.4

1989

1806

J. Bnting Beteiligungs AG

Germany

Asset management

2.8

10,700

12

LOUIS DREYFUS HOLDING B.V.

Netherlands

Asset management

74.3

1851

1807

Bucher Industries AG

Switzerland

Diversified industrial products

2.9

11,890

13

Reliance Industries Limited

India

Oil and gas

72.0

1966

1810

PEUGEOT SA

France

Automotive

71.8

207,287

14

PEUGEOT SA

France

Automotive

71.8

1810

1816

Swire Pacific Ltd

Hong Kong

Real Estate and construction

6.6

75,000

15

Comcast Corp.

United States

Media and entertainment

64.7

1963

1820

Wieland-Werke Aktiengesellschaft

Germany

Diversified industrial products

3.7

6,790

16

CASINO GUICHARD-PERRACHON

France

Retail and Wholesale

64.6

1898

1822

Bollor SA

France

Other Sectors

14.4

53,608

17

America Movil SA de CV

Mexico

Telecommunications

61.6

2000

1828

Hutchison-Whampoa Ltd.

Hong Kong

Asset management

33.0

260,000

18

Itau Unibanco Banco Multiplo SA

Brazil

Banking & capital markets

57.0

2008

1828

Globus Holding Gmbh & Co. Kg

Germany

Retail and Wholesale

7.2

17,000

19

The Long & Foster Companies, Inc.

United States

Real estate and construction

56.0

1968

1834

Ayala Corp

Philippines

Real Estate and construction

20

Roche Holding AG (Roche Group)

Switzerland

Life Sciences

50.5

1896

1835

Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA

Germany

Media and entertainment

1837

Hermes International

France

Consumer Products

3.2

44,000

21.7

111,763

5.0

11,037

21

Enterprise Products Partners LP

United States

Oil and gas

47.7

1968

22

AP Moeller/Maersk Group

Denmark

Other sectors

47.4

1904

1837

Bonnier AB

Sweden

Media and entertainment

4.2

9,226

23

Continental AG

Germany

Automotive

44.3

1871

1839

B. Braun Melsungen Aktiengesellschaft

Germany

Life Sciences

6.9

48,264

24

JBS SA

Brazil

Consumer Products

43.2

1953

1841

Wilh. Werhahn KG

Germany

Diversified industrial products

3.9

9,340

25

Christian Dior SA

France

Consumer Products

42.0

1946

1841

C&A Mode AG

Germany

Retail and Wholesale

8.8

35,672

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