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Establishment of The Rothschild Dynasty

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For the last 250 years, the name Rothschild has been synonymous around the world with money, gold, finance, power – both political and industrial. Reactions to the name range from admiration and envy, to fear and disdain, for reasons just as wide and perhaps understandable, as the family is acknowledged as one of the richest ever in history. So admiration for what the family has achieved, but fear for how the fortune has been – and possibly can still be – utilised, with strong evidence indicating that events around the world have often been generated and/or controlled by the Rothschilds for their own benefit.

The current net worth of the family is estimated at anything from a minimum of $300 billion to as much as many trillions – so widely is the family and its wealth now spread, that an accurate estimate is impossible.

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Establishment of The Rothschild

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The family is notionally Jewish, most probably Ashkenazi Jews originating from the area between the Black and Caspian Seas and who adopted Judaism in the 8th century – their ancient history is somewhat vague. Regardless, the family’s rise to prominence didn’t begin until the 18th century, in Frankfurt in what is now Germany.

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Mayer Amschel Bauer was born in 1743, in Frankfurt, the son of money lender Moses Amschel Bauer who above the door to his business erected a red hexagon – this ‘red shield/sign’ translates into German as ‘rot schild’, and became the name Rothschild which Mayer adopted as his surname in his 20s. (Some sources suggest that the name may have been used by ancestor Izaak more than 100 years previously.) Mayer initially worked in Hanover for an Oppenheimer-owned bank – another name synonymous with wealth – and by devious means became a confidant of Prince William of Hesse-Hanau; he quickly realised that lending money to royalty and governments was far more profitable and secure than to individuals. He was also permitted to have himself recognised publicly as a ‘court factor’, immeasurably improving his stature in the financial and business world.

The Rothschild Dynasty

Mayer and his wife Gutle had five sons: the first, Amschel Mayer, was born in 1773(d. 1855), Salomon Mayer the following year(d. 1855), Nathan Mayer in 1777(d. 1836), Kalmann Mayer in 1788(d. 1855), and Jacob Mayer in 1792(d. 1868). Each were to become vital in the growth and spreading influence of the Rothschild business and hence fortune, initially in the European financial world, but later their tentacles were to spread almost worldwide. Mayer also had five daughters, details of their lives are sketchy, but they enabled the Rothschild family to spread their influence, although hidden, by accident or design, under different names. During the 19th century in particular, future generations were to almost always marry first or second cousins, so careful were the family to retain control of their expanding businesses.

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red shieldDe ancestor

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Mayer became adept at financing the many small states and free cities existing in what is now Germany, but in the 1770s he also had influence on developing “The Illuminati”, under the direction of Adam Wieshaupt, supposedly an organisation with altruistic aims of fighting ‘official” corruption and nepotism, but essentially a self-serving system to undermine political and religious orders, and place them in debt to the Rothschilds.

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Mayer dispatchers

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Over the next several years, Mayer dispatched his sons to the four other major European financial centres – Nathan established a bank in London, after landing in Manchester in 1798; Jakob (James) in Paris in 1811; Kalmann in Naples in 1821; Salomon in Vienna in 1822; Amschel remained in Frankfurt. These were to be permanent migrations – there was no doubt that the aim was to establish branches of the family business, and to facilitate co-operation between them in the ambition to become possibly the most important family-run business in Europe, and therefore the richest.

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The Emperor Francis 11 of Austria granted four baronetcies to the family as early as 1816, Nathan in 1818, so importantly useful an influence was the family even at that point. In 1847 and then in 1885, Queen Victoria elevated two of the Rothschilds to hereditary Baronetcies, a further indication of the family’s importance in British financial and other business circles.

Mayer and his sons are suspected of involvement in several wars, partly to undermine states to the family’s own ultimate advantage, but also because they could back both sides anyway, as the victor in war guaranteed the debts of the vanquished. The financial basis had been an amount of $3 million left with Mayer for safe-keeping by Prince William, in fear of Napoleon, but which was never to be repaid.

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The French Revolution

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The French Revolution and then Napoleonic Wars provided the family with enormous opportunities, as their control of gold (bullion) and its transportation enabled easy support of Britain and her allies, but also of the French. Of particular note was Nathan’s early receipt in London of news of the Battle of Waterloo, then behaving as though the British had lost, only to buy bonds back at an enormous discount before the victory was proclaimed.

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He is said to have claimed a 20 to one payout, increasing his initial stake of $25,000 to around $60 million at this point in time. In fact, the holdings of Nathan were such that he saved the British government in a cash liquidity crisis in 1825.

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The First bank of USA

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Concurrently, Nathan – who supposedly because of his greater success had been elected head of the family business on his father’s death, contrary to the eldest son assuming control – was involved in the War of 1812, having established The First Bank of the United States through agent Alexander Hamilton, believing that a US defeat would then enable the family to control US finances. This plan didn’t work, or at least, it was the British who needed Rothschild assistance.

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Rothschilds were permitted to open the Second Bank of the US, only to have it disestablished by President Jackson in the 1830s, which ended the family’s major influence in the US.

However, in 1825 loans of over $3 million to Brazil financed the new country’s independence from Portugal, which additionally took on repayment of an earlier loan from the Rothschilds to Portugal of around $2 million. Rothschilds influence had spread to South America.

Nathan married Hannah, daughter of Levy Barent Cohen originally from an Amsterdam family involved in finance, and they had seven children, six of whom married within the family including to a Cohen, and one into petty royalty – a British minister of the crown. Significant projects during the 19th century included financing the Suez Canal, and bankrolling Cecil Rhodes to form the future Zimbabwe – Africa was now within Rothschilds’ purvue, which later included De Beers. The banking operations stayed within the English branch of the Rothschilds until 2003, when they merged with the French operation.

In France, following the demise of Napoleon, Jakob subsequently bought-up French bonds, issued with borrowed money, only to sell rapidly and then effectively take-over supply of finance to the government when their finances collapsed. However, the French branch played a significant roll in the re-building of the country during the rest of the century, including extensive industrialisation.

In 1835, the Spanish quicksilver mines at Almaden were leased to the Rothschilds indefinitely, thus giving the family a virtual monopoly of the refining of gold and silver in Europe.

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A notable, if not necessarily financially rewarding purchase initially, was what became Chateau Moutin Rothschild, followed later by Chateau Lafitte, becoming two of the most famous and enduring names in the world of wine production.

In 1904, the Japanese government solicited the unified Rothschild branches in London to fund their efforts in the Russo-Japanese War; the issue of Japanese war bonds totalled around $1.5 billion in 2016 currency terms – east Asia was now beholden to the Rothschilds.

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Jakob married his niece, the daughter of Salomon, and they had five children, four of whom married within the family, and one to an influential financier.

In Italy, Kalmann quickly established relationships with both the Austrian-dominated Naples government, and the Vatican, formulating significant loans to the Papal States as well as to various Italian states including Naples, Tuscany and Parma, However the unification of Italy in 1861 dramatically reduced Rothschilds’ influence, and the branch was soon closed.

Kalmann married Adelheid Herz and they had five children, four of whom married within the wider Rothschild family – son Anselm died aged 18. Mayer Carl and Wilhelm Carl subsequently succeeded their childless uncle Amschel in Frankfurt on his death in 1855.

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Salomon Rothschild

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Salomon became domiciled in Vienna in 1820, and rapidly developed a very significant role in all levels of banking, eventually becoming the largest banking concern in the Empire, which endured effectively until the anschluss of 1938, after which their business was subsumed by the Nazis, and their properties confiscated. Much of their property wasn’t returned until 1999. His operations included supporting construction of the railway network in Austria-Hungary to a large degree.

Salomon married Caroline Stern, and they had a son and a daughter, both of whom married within the family. To his credit, Salomon was a noted philanthropist, in particular donating many pieces of art to a range of galleries and museums around Europe.

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Meantime, Amschel Mayer concentrated on business in the middle of Europe until his death in 1855, but again, unification – this time of Germany in 1871 – soon significantly reduced the ability of the Rothschild business to influence state matters, although they had been involved in the Franco-Prussion War which had preceded it. Chancellor Bismarck was nobody’s fool, and apparently regarded the Rothschild’s overtures of financial support with suspicion.

Attempts to set up banking operations in Russia were repulsed by the Tsar, and – again – in the US were unsuccessful, to the extent that President Lincoln had had a new currency printed to circumvent the Rothschild’s influence on the major American banks.

Now well-established in the UK in particular, from where their major projects are co-ordinated, the family has even entered the Chinese banking market as of 2006, and there are allegedly very few countries left in which Rothschilds do not have a presence. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the long-established neutrality of the country both politically and financially, a further important base is in Switzerland.

The Rothschilds have certainly survived well into the modern era, notwithstanding the suspicion with which they are still regarded, amid rumours of their involvement in many major events and conspiracies over the years. Many allegations have been shown to originate from anti-Semitic bias, and as has been pointed out, many supposed Rothschild machinations would be counter-productive, certainly from the middle of the 19th century, as conflict would not benefit the family’s ownership of, for example, government bonds, a significant pillar of their wealth.

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The family has taken a rather lower public profile in recent years, but then with such an extensive family and range of names, the difficulty is establishing who is related to whom, and which businesses are linked, formally or informally, and that needs very significant further research. Suffice to say that there are well over 50 people very prominent in politics, finance and many industries, still exerting considerable influence around the world, although not necessarily under the Rothschild name. To list just a few, both bloodline and by marriage, shows the family’s continuing influence:

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Ariane de Rothschild, (nee Ariane Elizabeth Langner, wife of Benjamin de Rothschild) – President of the Executive Committee of Edmond de Rothschild since 2015, and vice-president of the Edmond de Rothschild Holding SA

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Benjamin de Rothschild, a Swiss banker, the chairman of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, a private bank established by his father and owned by the family.

Lord Cholmondeley, a direct descendant of Sir Robert Walpole. First Prime Minister of Great Britain; a direct descendent of both the Rothschild and Sassoon families.

Baron David René James de Rothschild, chairman of Swiss Rothschild Continuation Holdings; ex-chairman of De Beers; Chairman of the Governing Board of the World Jewish Congress.

Emma Georgina Rothschild, CMG, British, but Professor of History at Harvard University; a trustee of the Rothschild Archive.

Sir Evelyn Robert Adrian de Rothschild, Her Majesty’s financial adviser; ex-director of de Rothschilds Freres; directed the merger of Rothschild’s French and UK houses.

Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, Chairman of J Rothschild Capital Management; Member of the Council for the Duchy of Cornwall for HRH The Prince of Wales.

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Started with Net Worth Post in September 2014. Before that, Senior Writer at Creative Horizons. Earned a Journalism degree from Northwestern University.

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Billionaires

ExxonMobil Net Worth

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The largest company in the world by market capital valuation is now ExxonMobil, a gas and oil multi-national conglomerate formed in 1999, with headquarters in Irving, Texas USA, which was actually the brainchild of founder – and a very familiar person in the ranks big business and ‘the richest’ – John D. Rockefeller back in the late 1800s, himself being one of the richest people to ever live.

So just what is the net worth of ExxonMobil? Of course the net valuation of the company varies almost daily, according to the stock market prices of gas and oil in particular, but as of early 2017 it stands at $365 billion, although it has been as high as $450 billion, now constantly vying with Apple and more recently Alphabet (Google) as the highest valued company in the world.

ExxonMobil Net Worth $365 Billion

Most importantly, ExxonMobil is ranked by Fortune 500 as the second most profitable world company, regardless of recent volatility in oil prices; its revenue has apparently diminished little, still estimated to be the world’s 8th largest. Probably as equally important, the company’s shares remain sort-after by investors – as a publicly traded company it’s the fifth largest by market capitalization.

How did ExxonMobil grow into such a highly-valued company? The answer lies initially in the discovery, expansion of production, refinement, control of distribution, and sales of oil and its derivatives, beginning in 1870, promoted most energetically by John D. Rockefeller. Originally the company was called the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, soon amalgamating with the New York and New Jersey arms of Standard Oil in 1882 to form Standard Oil Trust. However, the Sherman Anti-Trust Law of 1892 decreed that the company had to be broken-up – it was too successful, too powerful in the oil industry, which presumably meant little competition at the points of sale.

The anti-trust process actually took nearly 20 years; one of the resulting 34 individual companies became Socony – an acronym for Standard Oil Company of New York – which subsequently became Mobil, and another became Jersey Standard, later Exxon, the two much later amalgamating into the conglomerate we know today. (‘The more things change, the more they stay the same!?’)

However, even then, not to be ‘outlawed’ or sidelined, several of the companies went about expanding by acquiring assets internationally, thus extending their overall influence on the market – the US legal authorities had little influence over companies domiciled outside their jurisdiction, even though controlled from within the US. Asia, including China, was incorporated into the New York company, and Canada into New Jersey; other companies established in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy and Belgium were also under the auspices of ‘Standard Oil’, so that by the early 1900s, Standard Oil was collectively stronger than ever.

Jersey Standard moved into South America, in Colombia in the form of Tropical Oil Company in 1920, and in Venezuela of Standard Oil Company (1921), and Creole Petroleum Company (1928). Oil was also found, and subsequently exploited and refined, in Indonesia, and in conjunction with Vacuum Oil Company – an early industry leader – effectively controlled the oil industry from East Africa to the south Pacific area.

Socony concentrated more on domestic production, including transportation by pipeline through the acquisition of Magnolia, very significant given the rising importance of the vehicle industry, but also ventured into Iraq through an association with the Turkish Petroleum Company in the late 1920s. By the late ‘40s, an interest had been acquired in Saudi Arabia – an area with the world’s largest known oil reserves – through Aramco (Arab-American Oil Company).

As can easily be seen, the various elements of what became ExxonMobil were way ahead of the field in the oil industry, especially at a time when usages of oil and refined products were approaching a peak.

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Several name changes and amalgamations occurred during the ‘50s and ‘60s, and acquisitions continued into further primary sources, including of coal and the refining of this mineral into various products. Libya became another important oil source, but concurrently Socony and Jersey both branched out into solar and nuclear power, the former briefly as its usefulness was seen as too long-term to be profitable, and mining and processing of uranium ore began in the early ‘70s.

ALSO In the early ‘70s, oil shale deposits were also acquired and developed, including in Australia, obviously with an eye to the long-term future. This was also the time when Exxon was adopted as the company’s over-riding name, and became very visible at points of sale. Consolidation was the order of the day, but Mobil European Gas was established too, followed by amalgamation with British Petroleum (BP), so becoming one of the big players in Europe for oil and natural gas.

Finally, in 1999 both the European Commission and US Federal Trade Commission approved the merger of Exxon – at that time the largest energy company in the world – and Mobil, the second biggest gas and oil company in the US. One may well wonder what happened to the anti-trust laws implemented a century earlier? Well, Mobil had to divest itself of BP, its share of the German Aral company, and MEGAS. In the US, almost 2500 gas stations had to be sold, as well as refineries in California, New England and Washington D.C., plus Mobil’s interest in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline among other lesser assets.

However, ExxonMobil certainly did not stagnate, and more recent operations have seen sales to franchisees of gas stations in the US, cessation of coal-mining, but still further oil exploration in Central Asia – apparently linked with the interest of CEO Rex Tillerson, now nominated as US Secretary of State – plus an arrangement he allegedly concluded with the Russian company Rosneft, but stymied somewhat by sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Interests in the Middle East (Sudan, Syria, Iran) have also continued to develop – not, supposedly, in contravention of various sanctions imposed.

Clearly there is power in strength, both commercially and politically, and ExxonMobil is one of the prime examples – to coin a phrase, the company is ‘too big to fall/fail’; that has been quoted before, but not always accurately.

Significantly, there have been many accidents particularly involving oil spillage, eg the oil tanker Exxon Valdez running aground in Alaska in 1989, which eventually cost the company $500 million in damages, apart from the cost of the clean-up; but the penalties of such incidents the company is easily financial enough to withstand. Most such cases have occurred within the USA.

Regardless, ExxonMobil remains a giant in the power production industry, if perhaps waning a little as reliance on oil and its derivatives diminishes somewhat around the developed world at least. However, given the company’s wider interests aside from oil, there is every possibility that its financial strength may well see it being a significant player in various other sources of power in the near future.

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Billionaires

Intel Net Worth

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Intel Corporation should be well known to anyone who has access to a computer, as by value it is the world’s biggest manufacturer of microprocessors – the ‘engine’ for many computers – and is the supplier of these and other parts to such companies as Dell, Hewlett Packard and Lenovo (formerly IBM), not to mention Apple.

So just what is the net worth of Intel? Authoritative sources estimate that the value of Intel is now over $150 billion, as of early 2017, with almost two-thirds of its current $55 billion total revenue coming from sales of hardware components for use in laptop, notebook and desktop computers.

Intel Net Worth $150 Billion

Intel is a technology company, now multi-national, as it has expanded considerably since its foundation in the now familiarly-named Silicon Valley, California USA in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore. These two were pioneers in the development of semiconductors, and were joined early by engineer and businessman Andrew Grove – an émigré Hungarian – who is widely credited with the business management and subsequent growth of the company until well into the 2000s. (The name ‘Intel’ was formulated from integrated and electronics.)

The company went public within a couple of years, raising an impressive amount at that time of $6.8 million, over $23 per share. For the first decade of its existence, the company concentrated on bipolar 64-bit static random-access memory (SRAM), double the speed of competitors products, then the bipolar 1024-bit read-only memory (ROM), followed by the silicon gate SRAM chip, the 256-bit 1101. Improvements in and expansion of the range of products during the 1970s, plus modernised manufacturing processes meant that Intel’s business grew exponentially during the 1970s, but still concentrating on memory devices. The net worth of the company as well as its profits increased significantly.

Although the microprocessor had been created in the early ‘70s, there was no significant market until a decade later, when PCs became more widely in demand, and in any case when Japanese competition in memory products had also considerably increased. Moore and Noyce decided to concentrate on the further development of a micro-processor, which miniaturized the CPU of a computer, enabling much smaller machines to perform calculations formerly the province of only significantly larger machines.

Supplying major companies such as IBM with microprocessors for PCs, and eventually laptops and tablets, saw a rapid growth in Intel’s business during the 1990s, and then into the new millennium. Of course competition, and consequent legal accusations over intellectual property rights and industrial espionage ensued, plus converse arguments over anti-trust issues, but Intel still managed to stay at the head of the field in the development of micro-processing, and therefore profitability saw the company’s net worth at least maintained.

Intel undoubtedly regained its pre-eminent position in 2006, when its Core microarchitecture was released, to general critical acclamation, as the product was a huge advance in processor performance. This was followed in 2008 by Penryn micro-architecture, and later that year, Nehalem architecture, both positively received and maintaining Intel’s leadership in micro-processing.

However, Intel has also spread its wings somewhat in recent years. Among other acquisitions, it purchased computer security technology company McAfee in 2010, and in the same year Infineon Technologies, integrating Intel’s silicon chips with its wireless modem. In 2011 the specialist network switches company Fulcrum Microsystems was bought, and in 2012, a stake in ASML Holding, to assist Intel in research into wafer technology and extreme ultra-violet lithography. Other acquisitions have included such companies as – or parts of – Indisys, Password Box, Vuzix, Lantiq, and more recently design company Altera for over $16 billion.

From a business perspective, the company still produces three-quarters of its products in the US, but 75% of its revenue come from overseas. Additionally, companies such as Achronix, Microsemi, Tabula, Netronome and Panasonic are utilising leased excess Intel manufacturing capacity for their own products.

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Intel’s headquarters are still in California, but its largest facility is in Washington County, Oregon, employing 18,600 workers, the biggest employer in the state and the same in New Mexico. 10,000 are employed in Arizona, and complexes are also located in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Texas, Washington and Utah. Internationally, Intel facilities are now in 63 countries, including China, India, Russia, Israel, Argentina, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Ireland.

Finally, in what can be seen as a philanthropic effort, Intel is a member of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), which also includes Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, the aim of which is to make internet access more affordable worldwide, as currently just 31% of people in developing countries are online –with the aim of reducing costs to under 5% of family income.

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Net Worth Of The World’s Richest Families

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The richest individuals around the world are constantly in the headlines, partly out of fascination for just how much they are worth – amounts unimaginable to the average person, regardless that 80% of ‘the richest’ are actually self-made billionaires. However, during this period of stock markets’ volatility in early 2016, they are just as newsworthy for how much they can lose, or gain, in one day, which can markedly effect their ranking on the ‘richest list’.

Not so well-known are families with accumulated net worth which puts them close to the aforementioned richest individuals, perhaps unsurprisingly if there are three, four or five relatively ‘super-rich’ relatives who pool their energies, business interests and their net worth. Many are indeed consistently linked in a family business or conglomerate, as can be seen in this list which authoritative sources estimate comprise the richest in the world, share markets allowing! Very few are built on ‘new’ money, but mostly the result of steady growth over, in some cases, hundreds of years.

10. Cox family Net worth: $34.5 billion


[one_half]coxss family[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

James M. Cox was firstly a social reforming politician, being twice elected Governor of Ohio, but also built a considerable business empire in the media and communications industries beginning before the turn of the 20th century, so now well over100 years old. Now under the control of James’ daughter Anne Cox Chambers and his grandchildren James Cox Kennedy – current chair of Cox Enterprises – and Blair Parry-Okeden who are all heirs to a considerable fortune, the company is now expanding its interests into the automotive industry.[/one_half_last]

9. Bernard Arnault & family Net worth: $37.7 billion


[one_half]Bernard Arnault33[/one_half][one_half_last]From: France

World renowned names Moet Hennessy and Louis Vuitton (LVMH) are just two of the business interests of the Arnault family, which also has interests in retail, yachts and web companies as well as in Christian Dior, a prominent fashion brand. CEO and chairman is still Bernard, but Executive VP at LVMH is daughter Delphine, and CEO of Berluti, a subsidiary of LMVH, is his son Antoine. The company made initial inroads into business through real estate, but smart investing saw it reach its current prominent position in several industries.

Bernard Arnault Net Worth

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8. Liliane Bettencourt & family Net worth: $42.7 billion


[one_half]Liliane Bettencourt333[/one_half][one_half_last]From: France

The French are certainly still one of the fore-runners in the world of cosmetics and perfumes, as proven by their leading lengevity in the industry. The world-dominating cosmetic company L’Oreal is now run by Liliane Bettencourt’s daughter Francoise and grandson Jean-Victor Meyers, but she is still the richest woman in the world and principal shareholder of the company her father Eugene founded in 1907. She only retired from active involvement in 2011, aged 89.

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7. Cargill-MacMillan family Net worth: $45 billion


[one_half]Cargill-MacMillan family13[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

Cargil Inc. outranks Koch enterprises in being the largest private company in the USA, with and 88% of it still owned by family members, in fact currently boasting 14 billionaires. William Wallace Cargill founded the company based on grain storage in 1865, which was split among his four children when he died in 1909. The company’s interests now include trading commodities as well as food products. In-laws the MacMillans are billionaires, the total wealth of the expanded family being an estimate because of the privacy attendant to the conglomerate.[/one_half_last]

6. Carlos Slim Helú & family Net worth $77.1 billion


[one_half]Carlos Slim Helú & family33[/one_half][one_half_last]From: Mexico

Son Carlos is now the chairman of Grupo Carso, and with three siblings is ready to take over completely the conglomerate built-up by the second richest person in the world. The ‘Warren Buffett of Mexico’, Carlos Slim Helú is so important to Mexico – accounting for 40% of the listings on the Mexican stock exchange – made from scratch largely from his development of telecoms, that there is a strong chance of the Mexican economy collapsing if the stock exchange took a real dive.

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Carlos Slim Helu Net Worth

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5. Mars family Net worth: $80 billion


[one_half]The Mars Family51[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

Mars Bars and M & Ms were developed more than 80 years ago, and are still going strong. Franklin Mars obviously knew his candy, and the money to be made out of it. As with other rich families, the family and the business are still private. Franklin founded the business in 1911, and son Forrest Sr. joined the company in 1929; children, Forrest Jr., Jacqueline and John continue to own the whole of Mars Inc., which now also makes pet foods as well as pasta sauces, and which means that they are now worth almost $30 billion each.

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4. Koch family Net worth: $89 billion


[one_half]multinational corporation22[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

In the country with the world’s largest GDP, Koch Industries is now the second-largest privately-held company in the USA. Charles and David Koch had the nous to buy-out their two other brothers in the early 1980s, and now control the oil and refining company founded by their father Fred C. Koch in 1940. Subsidiary interests in finance, manufacturing, trading and real estate have ensured the continued growth of this multinational corporation, with the brothers net worth now approaching $50 billion each.

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3. Walton family Net worth: $152 billion


[one_half]walton family3[/one_half][one_half_last]From: USA

Jim, Rob, and Alice are direct heirs of Sam and James Walton, who had the foresight to establish Walmart in the southern USA in 1962. Christy is the widow of his son John who died in a ‘plane crash in 2005, and with her children the six Waltons control 54% of the shares of the world’s largest retailer. The company’s revenue regularly hits $500 billion, through 11,500 stores in 28 countries, so the present owners sum value is usually over $160 billion – share market machinations permitting!

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2. The House of Saud Net worth: $1.4 trillion


[one_half]The House of Saud Net worth1[/one_half][one_half_last]From: Saudi Arabia

The al-Saud family have been in control of at least part of the Arabian peninsular since the early 1700s, and like the Rothschilds, their wealth is now distributed through so many family members that the total can only be estimated. Saudi Arabia is now run as an absolute monarchy, effectively established under the patronage of the British following the break-up of the Ottoman empire after World War One. Of course their main source of wealth is oil, the price of which has a very significant effect on the al-Saud family wealth, and the budget of the country! Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud has been king since early 2015.

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1. Rothschild family $350 billion – $700 trillion


[one_half]Rothschild family2[/one_half][one_half_last]From: Germany (originally)

The name itself is fascinating, but more so because the family is now so widespread, with all their wealth effectively ‘private’, so the total of their net worth is always open to conjecture. However, since Mayer Amschel Rothschild established his banking company in Frankfurt, now Germany, in the 1700s, and distributed his five sons to the five centres of European finance, the family has had a finger in virtually every pie – business, industry, enterprise, exploration, war – over the last 250 years. Their influence has been such that descendents have been elevated to royal rank in countries such as Austria and the UK. The family fortune is therefore only an estimate, but even at the lower end it is still extremely impressive!

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