For the first time, the House of Nahyan has joined Bloomberg’s annual ranking of family fortunes, and done so at the very top.
With a $305 billion fortune, the Al Nahyans of Abu Dhabi topped the Waltons of Walmart Inc. by a cool $45 billion. Another new entrant: the Al Thanis, the royal family of Qatar, at No. 5.
The petro-fortunes are reshaping global business as never before. Their flexing of personal — as well as sovereign — financial firepower adds multibillion-dollar exclamation points to the region’s growing influence. All three Gulf families on the ranking are likely far richer than these conservative estimates.
As a group, the world’s richest families have gotten $1.5 trillion wealthier since the last ranking, and the new tallies from the Middle East weren’t the only noteworthy shifts. Among the biggest gainers was a different kind of royal house: the sixth-generation dynasty behind luxury brand Hermès, who added $56 billion to become the world’s third-richest by eschewing fads and cultivating loyalty.
In a world in which faddish fortunes are regularly made and lost in cryptofied seconds, the world’s richest clans have prospered largely by sticking together, united by a shared sense of duty and the belief that they’ll be richer for it.
That’s helped dynasties endure despite wars, downturns, taxes, blood feuds and errant in-laws. Buoyant markets help too, but the most successful families are fixated on generational, not quarterly, milestones, said Bob Gould, a partner at Creaghan McConnell Group, which advises business families. “They play a much longer game.”
See the list below:
Methodology
Net worth figures are as of November 27, 2023. The ranking excludes first-generation fortunes and those fortunes controlled by a single heir. Clans whose source of wealth is too diffuse or opaque to be valued are also excluded.
Source: bloomberg.com
