The world’s 500 largest family-controlled companies had combined revenue of $8.8 trillion and employed 25.1 million people, according to the 2025 Global 500 Family Business Index from EY and the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland. The index is published every two years. The 2025 edition was released in March 2025 and was still the most recent on the index website when Lens checked on 12 November 2026, so this post is a reference summary of its figures rather than new data.

Size and how it is measured

Revenue rose 10 percent from the 2023 index, EY says. It adds that the combined revenue, if compared with countries’ gross domestic product (GDP), would rank as the world’s third-largest economy, behind the US and China. The average company had revenue of $17.6 billion, and 80 percent reported more than $5 billion.

To qualify, a family must hold at least 50 percent of voting rights in a private company or at least 32 percent in a listed one, and the business must involve several generations or be at least 50 years old. Only one company per family is counted, and revenue comes from accounts no more than 24 months old, so the figures do not all cover the same year. EY and the university say the index reflects their best efforts and practical judgement in interpreting the information available.

The five largest

The index website ranks these companies first by revenue:

  • Walmart Inc. (United States, Walton family): $648.13 billion
  • Volkswagen Group (Germany, Porsche and Piëch families): $356.71 billion
  • Schwarz Group, owner of Lidl and Kaufland (Germany, Schwarz family): $179.09 billion
  • Cargill, Inc. (United States, Cargill and MacMillan families): $177.00 billion
  • Ford Motor Company (United States, Ford family): $176.19 billion

Together the five account for about 17 percent of the index’s total revenue (Lens arithmetic).

Where they are based

EY says the companies are headquartered in 44 jurisdictions, with 47 percent in Europe, 29 percent in North America, 18 percent in Asia and 6 percent elsewhere. A Lens count of the index website’s data table gives 116 companies in the United States, 78 in Germany, 27 in France, 22 in Italy, 17 each in India and Switzerland, 16 in Canada and 15 each in China and Mexico. EY says US companies contribute about 30 percent of total revenue, or $2.6 trillion.

By sector, retail has the most companies, at 20 percent, and 26 percent of revenue, or $2.25 trillion. It is followed by consumer products (19 percent of companies), advanced manufacturing (15 percent) and mobility (9 percent). German companies lead both the advanced manufacturing and mobility sectors by number and revenue, according to EY.

Deals and age

Between 1 December 2022 and 30 November 2024, 236 of the 500 companies, or 47 percent, took part in at least one merger or acquisition, EY says. They made 616 deals, of which 242 had disclosed values; 82 of those exceeded $250 million. The largest disclosed deal was an acquisition by Mars, Inc. valued at $36.8 billion.

According to EY, 34 percent of the companies are more than 100 years old and 85 percent are more than 50 years old, and a family member is chief executive in more than 40 percent. The oldest is Japan’s Takenaka Corporation, which EY says has been in business for 414 years; the index table lists its founding year as 1610. In Europe, Merck of Germany (356 years) and Wendel of France (320 years) are the oldest, and the oldest US company is the lift truck maker Hyster-Yale, which dates back to 1844. Lens earlier listed seven companies that scaled on little or no outside money.

Sources and notes

Sources read in full: EY’s global Family Business Index article; the EY Singapore news release; the University of St.Gallen release, dated 13 March 2025; the EY Germany article, dated 12 March 2025; and the index website with its methodology page. Country counts and the top-five share are Lens calculations from the website’s 500-row data table. The sources differ in places: EY’s global article gives Germany 78 companies and 44 jurisdictions, while EY Germany gives 76 companies and 43 countries, and a chart description on EY’s global page also says 43 jurisdictions. The data table matches 78 and 44. EY’s GDP comparison cites a 2022 Nasdaq article and IMF data. Thumbnail photo: “Saltaire - Salts Mill - 1” by Benjamin Smith via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped. Salts Mill in Saltaire, West Yorkshire, a former textile mill built in 1853 by the industrialist Titus Salt. Stand-in photo; it does not show the events or organisations described.

Image: Lens chart built from the figures above. Thumbnail: Benjamin Smith via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).