Every minute, Walmart‘s founding family earns a whopping $70,000.
That’s $4 million every hour and $100 million every day — making the Waltons the richest dynasty in the world, according to Bloomberg’s annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest families.
Spanning three generations, private holding company Walton Enterprises owns roughly half of the Bentonville, Ark.-based company. Founder Sam Walton’s heirs include sons Jim and Rob and daughter Alice as well as Sam’s late son John’s widow, Christy Walton, along with Lucas, his grandson from the marriage. Nancy Walton Laurie, daughter of Sam’s brother and business partner Bud, also receives earnings.
Bloomberg reported that the Walmart family fortune has climbed from $39 billion to nearly $191 billion — a nearly 400% gain — since it made the top of the list in June 2018. That figure increased exponentially in August 2018, when Walmart reported an 11% surge in its stock, following the announcement of a stellar Q2 earnings report, upping the family’s net worth to a total of $163.2 billion.)
In 2019, two other retail clans also joined the top 10: brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, who own a controlling interest in French fashion house Chanel, and the Hermès scions.
The Wertheimers ranked No. 5 on the list, with a fortune worth $57.6 billion, largely inherited off the wealth of their grandfather, who co-founded the Chanel perfume business in 1924. They also own vineyards in France and Napa Valley, as well as a horse racing and breeding business.
The Hermès family, on the other hand, owes its wealth to the late Jean-Louis Dumas, who served as chairman of the group from 1978 until 2006 and is widely credited for reviving the luxury brand. Today, artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas and chairman Axel Dumas, with their assets worth $53.1 billion, still maintain senior positions at the firm.
Altogether, Bloomberg’s top 25 wealthiest dynasties reportedly control a total of $1.4 trillion. The Kochs, political power players, reaped an additional $26 billion from Koch Industries, boosting their accumulated wealth to $125 billion. Family members with stakes in mass media company Thomson Reuters, mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments and cosmetics empire Estée Lauder were also on the list of the world’s wealthy.
Watch FN’s interview with these top shoe players.
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