The Walton family, which owns the Walmart retail chain, boasts a personal wealth £166.8 billion (€193.3 billion), making it both the world's richest family as well as the richest operating in the retail and consumer goods space, the latest edition of The Sunday Times' Rich List has found.
Earlier this month, Walmart reported total revenue of $138.3 billion (€113.4 billion) in the first quarter of its financial year, an increase of $3.7 billion on the same period last year.
According to the paper's annual Rich List, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ranks second on a global level, with a personal wealth of £128.3 billion (€148.7 billion), with Tesla founder Elon Musk in third, with £109.4 billion (€126.8 billion).
From a retail and consumer goods point of view, a number of names feature prominently in the global Rich List – LVMH's Bernard Arnault ranks fourth (£108.7 billion), while the Mars family, owners of the eponymous chocolate brand, rank eighth (£68 billion).
L'Oréal's Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is 15th on the list (£53.3 billion), with Aldi's Karl and Theo Albrecht Jr, along with their sister Beate Heister, placing 23rd (£42 billion).
French businessman Gérard Mulliez, who founded the Auchan chain, is 40th on the list, with a fortune of £27.8 billion, with Lidl owner Dieter Schwarz placing 45th, with £26.7 billion.
The Rich Get Richer
The annual Sunday Times Rich List ranks the richest individuals (or families), in both the UK and internationally, and this year's edition found that the top 250 in Britain now have more wealth than ever before, boosted, to some degree, by the pandemic. The total wealth of UK billionaires now stands at £597.3 billion, up from £490.7 billion last year.
Ukranian billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik tops the UK list, with a fortune of £23 billion, followed by property investors David and Simon Reuben (£21.46 billion) and the Hinduja family (£17 billion).
Notable names in the top ten include inventor Sir James Dyson (4th, £16.3 billion) Tetra Pak heirs Kristen and Jorn Rausing (7th, £12.1 billion), and Heineken's Charlene de Carvalho Heineken and her husband Michel (9th, £12.0 billion).
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. For more A-Brands news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
