Decabillionaires: These Are America’s 10 Richest Families of All Time
If you’ve ever bought a candy bar, chances are you contributed to the net worth of one of America’s wealthiest families. Indeed, the list of America’s 10 richest families of 2024 compiled by Forbes includes familiar names like Mars and Walton, the former of candy maker fame and the latter of Walmart fame.
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Other surnames aren’t as synonymous with their brands or industries, but all 10 of the families on this list share similar success stories — and drama. Curious to see how the rich get rich? Scroll through to learn more about 10 of America’s richest families.
1. The Walton Family: $267 Billion, Retail
Seven members of the Walton family own an estimated 45% of shares in Walmart, which has a current market capitalization of more than $486 billion. Walmart has grown from a single store opened by Sam Walton in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, to bringing in $648 billion in revenue this fiscal year from over 10,000 stores in 19 countries.
According to Forbes, Walmart heiress Alice Walton has a personal net worth of $72.3 billion. Her brother, Jim Walton, has a net worth of $78.4 billion.
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2. The Mars Family: $117 Billion, Candy and Pet Food
Siblings Jacqueline and John, along with the four daughters of Forrest Jr., own 100% of Mars, the candy and pet food giant. Founded in their grandfather’s kitchen in Tacoma, Washington, the conglomerate now boasts $47 billion in annual sales of Snickers, M&Ms and even Sheba cat food. Jacqueline’s son Stephen Badger and Forrest Jr.’s daughter Victoria sit on the company’s board.
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3. The Koch Family: $116 Billion, Energy & Diversified Holdings
Brothers William and Frederick Koch sold their shares of Koch Industries in 1983 for around $700 million, but spent years fighting for more from brothers Charles and David Koch. An unsuccessful lawsuit, spearheaded by William, sought $2 billion from the two brothers who maintained control of the company founded by their father in the 1930s.
The four brothers have reportedly laid the feud to rest. With $125 billion in annual revenue, Koch Industries is the country’s second-largest private company in the U.S., according to Forbes.
4. The Cargill-MacMillan Family: $60.6 Billion, Agribusiness
Cargill Inc. is America’s largest private company, reports Forbes. The company earned $177 billion in sales and other revenues on everything from chocolate to livestock feed in the 2023 fiscal year.
Family members still own 88% of this company, which was founded as a small grain storage business in 1865 by W.W. Cargill. In 1909, the company was later led by son-in-law John MacMillan. Today, the combined clan includes 21 billionaires.
5. The Johnson Family: $44.8 Billion, Money Management
As descendants of the founder of Fidelity Investments, the Johnson family is one of the wealthiest families in the country, reports Forbes. Edward C. Johnson II founded the firm in 1946, which has since grown to manage $4.4 trillion in assets.
The founder’s son, Edward “Ned” Johnson III, controlled the company for nearly three decades before ceding the CEO spot at Fidelity Investments to his daughter Abigail in 2014. Son Edward Johnson IV runs a family-owned real estate company while another sibling, Elizabeth, is not involved in operations at Fidelity, reports Forbes.
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6. The Pritzker Family: $41.6 Billion, Hotels & Investing
Jay Pritzker and his brother Donald built the company behind Hyatt Hotels and also found success as investors. But the family fortune was threatened in 2002 when two of Jay’s grandchildren sued their father Robert and other family members, claiming approximately $1 billion had been unlawfully siphoned from their trust funds, reports Daily Finance. Both grandchildren received $500 million and agreed to relinquish all future claims on the family assets in a 2005 settlement.
There are now 10 individual billionaires in the Pritzker family ranks, including former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and movie producer Gigi Pritzker.
7. The Johnson Family: $38.5 Billion, Cleaning Products
S.C. Johnson started as a salesman at a parquet flooring company in 1882, bought out the business a few years later and developed a floor wax for his customers that soon outpaced flooring sales. His son, Herbert Fisk Johnson, ran the company until 1928. Herbert died without a will, sparking a battle over inheritance that ended with a 60/40 split of the company between his two children, Herbert Fisk Jr. and Henrietta Johnson Louis.
Despite early differences, the family has managed to hold on to 100% of the company, which has estimated annual sales of $11.2 billion, according to Forbes. S.C. Johnson boasts a product portfolio of brands that include Pledge, Windex, Ziploc, Glade and more.
8. The Cathy Family: $33.6 Billion, Fast Food
In 1967, S. Truett Cathy opened the first Chick-fil-A in an Atlanta shopping mall. The fried chicken chain now boasts over 3,000 locations and $6.4 billion in sales as of 2022. The fast food giant is currently run by S. Truett’s grandson Andrew, who took over the CEO role from his father Dan in 2021.
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9. The Duncan Family: $30 Billion, Oil and Gas
Energy industry entrepreneur Dan Duncan, former head of natural gas and crude oil pipeline company Enterprise Products, left equal shares of a nearly $10 billion estate to his four children when he died in 2010. Because of the timing of Duncan’s death, the New York Times reported his heirs might have benefited from a Congressional quirk that eliminated the federal estate tax for one year. But, Enterprise Products released a statement that Duncan had passed the “economic interest” in the company on to his children before his death. So, it’s unclear if they really reaped the rewards from the estate-tax lapse.
What is clear is that the siblings are even richer now than they were then. Forbes reports that since the senior Duncan’s death, the family fortune has tripled, padded by rising share prices and dividend payouts from the publicly traded affiliate, Enterprise Products Partners.
10. The Cox Family: $26.8 Billion, Media and Automotive
The Cox family started building their billions when James M. Cox purchased a newspaper, the Dayton Evening News, in 1898. Now, Cox Enterprises is a diversified communications, media and automotive services company with annual revenues of more than $22.1 billion from a brand portfolio that includes Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book and more.
Its subsidiaries are Cox Communications, Cox Media Group and Cox Automotive. Alex Taylor is now the fourth generation of family members to lead the company as CEO.
Gabrielle Olya contributed to the reporting for this article.
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