The 100 Largest Global and U.S. Family Businesses and the 100 Oldest U.S. Family Businesses

Boards Business Leadership Family Leadership Family Office Management Technology

May 20, 2019

To see the entire Global Family Business Index, visit familybusinessindex.com

Family Business Magazine is pleased to partner with EY and the University of St. Gallen to present these lists of the 100 largest global and U.S. family-controlled businesses, as well as an update of Family Business Magazine's list of the oldest U.S. family companies.

Research and analysis by EY, The University of St. Gallen Center for Family Business and Family Business Magazine

Sponsored by:

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About the largest global and U.S. family business lists

The listings of the 100 largest global and U.S. family companies are provided by EY and the University of St. Gallen, and are part of a broader ranking of the 500 largest global family companies. Please visit familybusinessindex.com to access the entire index. The site features data visualization tools that enable readers to search and analyze the data.

A few key points on the rankings by size: The EY and University of St. Gallen Family Business Index is a global ranking of family-controlled businesses by revenues. Companies that have not published accounts in the last 24 months were excluded from the index. In order to be included, a business must be run by the second generation or greater. One or more family members must be involved in the running of the business, i.e., must be a part of either the board of directors or executive leadership.

To meet the criterion of a family business, the family must have substantial ownership of the business. Private companies where the family controls more than 50% of the shares and voting rights, as well as public companies where the family holds at least 32% of the shares and voting rights, are included.

If a company's family ownership percentage or revenues could not be confirmed, the company was omitted from the rankings. We encourage members of family-controlled companies who feel their company should be listed to contact David Shaw, Family Business Magazine's publishing director, with further details. He may be reached at dshaw@familybusinessmagazine.com.

Sources used to develop the index include proprietary data, filed and published company data, and specialist databases, such as Bloomberg, Capital IQ, Orbis, BoardEx and EY Knowledge.

Insights from the 2019 EY and University of St. Gallen Global Family Business Index

To see the entire Global 500 Family Business Index, visit familybusinessindex.com

Sponsored by:

Characteristics of 2019 Index Firms

Average number of employees 48,730

Average age of family businesses: 79.9

Average revenues in US$b: 15.0

Percent that are public companies: 51

There is little change in the geographic distribution of the 500 largest Global Index family firms since the last ranking in 2017, although there is a substantive rise in German firms and a slight reduction in American firms. There is a significant increase in the number of technology firms on the index. New entrants this year tend to be younger and smaller and are more likely to be publicly listed.

For the first time, the index includes data on board composition and characteristics. Both new and previously included firms have boards comprising a majority of non-family members. Most board members are male, and diversity at the board level is lower than among Fortune 500 companies. However, the total revenue represented by these 500 family firms has grown by 9.9% over the last Index, compared with 8.6% in the Fortune 500, underlining the success of family firms in their ability to compete effectively.

An analysis of the “average” firm shows little significant change between 2019 and 2017. Average employee numbers have risen slightly; average firm age has dropped a little, from 80.38 years in 2017 to 79.92 years in 2019; average revenue has risen to about US$14.97b in 2019 from US$13.62b in 2017; and on average, 51% of the index's family firms are public, compared with 48.6% in 2017.

“It is not surprising that when we are analyzing the very largest family companies in the world, average characteristics will not change dramatically year-on-year,” says Marnix van Rij, EY Global Family Business Leader. “Analysis of new entrants is where we see more trends.”

“Overall, there are fewer new entrants in the 2019 Index than there were in 2017,” says Professor Thomas Zellweger, chair of the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen. “The most significant shifts are the addition of 11 new German firms this year and significantly fewer new U.S. firms, seven compared with 49 in 2017.”

Unsurprisingly in this age of transformation, the Family Business Index this year sees significant increases in family businesses that are leveraging new technologies. This year, 65 firms operate in smart infrastructure (compared with just 35 in 2017), and 123 firms are in advanced manufacturing and mobility (compared with 103 firms in 2017).

By contrast, there are fewer firms in financial services (40 firms this year, compared with 61 firms in 2017) and in consumer products and retail (down 21%, from 202 firms to 160 this year).

For all that, there are more family businesses operating in consumer products than in any other industry market, with just under one in three (32%) of all Family Business Index companies operating in consumer products.

The majority of new entrants to the index this year operate in advanced manufacturing and mobility, while consumer products is the second-largest source of new entrants.

Text continued on the 100 Largest U.S. Family Business web page

2019 Rank	Prior Rank	Company	Year Founded	Family	Public/ Private	Revenues (in $billions)	Employees	Sector	HQ Country	Family Voting Rights Percent
1	1	Wal-Mart Inc.	1962	Walton	Public	485.9	2,300,000	Consumer	United States	50.83
2	2	Volkswagen AG	1937	Porsche	Public	287.9	642,300	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Germany	52.2
3	3	Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.	1955	Buffett	Public	242.1	402,166	Financial Services	United States	32
4	5	EXOR SpA	1927	Agnelli	Public	170.8	307,637	Financial Services	Italy	52.99
5	4	Ford Motor Company	1903	Ford	Public	156.8	202,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	United States	40
6	7	Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)	1916	Quandt	Public	118.8	129,932	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Germany	46.82
7	8	Koch Industries Inc.	1940	Koch	Private	110.0	100,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	United States	84
8	6	Cargill, Incorporated	1865	Cargill	Private	109.7	153,000	Consumer	United States	100
9	9	Schwarz Group	1930	Schwarz	Private	109.6	360,000	Consumer	Germany	100
10	New	Robert Bosch GmbH	1886	Bosch	Private	94.6	402,166	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Germany	99
11	10	ALDI Group	1913	Albrecht	Private	84.9	162,579	Consumer	Germany	100
12	11	Comcast Corp.	1963	Roberts	Public	84.5	164,000	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	United States	33.32
13	13	Arcelor Mittal	1976	Mittal	Public	68.7	197,108	Energy	Luxembourg	37.4
14	12	Gunvor SA	2000	TÃ¶rnqvist	Private	64.0	1,600	Energy	Switzerland	63
15	15	Dell Technologies Inc.	1984	Dell	Public	61.6	138,000	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	United States	75
16	New	Metro AG	1996	Haniel / Schmidt-Ruthnbeck / Beisheim	Private	60.2	57,852	Smart Infrastructure	Germany	53.23
17	21	Roche Holding AG (Roche Group)	1896	Hoffman and Oeri	Public	56.5	93,734	Health Sciences & Wellness	Switzerland	50.07
18	22	LG Corporation	1947	Koo	Public	55.7	37,902	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	South Korea	37.49
—	26	Continental AG	1871	Schaeffler	Public	53.2	235,473	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Germany	46
20	14	Groupe Auchan S.A.	1961	Mulliez	Private	53.2	355,107	Smart Infrastructure	France	90
21	130	CK Hutchison Holdings	1828	Li	Public	53.0	300,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Hong Kong	58.5
22	19	America Movil SA de CV	2000	Slim	Public	51.6	191,851	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	Mexico	61.9
23	32	LVMH MoÃ«t Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA	1987	Arnault	Public	51.1	128,637	Consumer	France	46.8
24	28	JBS SA	1953	Batista	Public	49.5	235,000	Consumer	Brazil	41.9
25	67	China Evergrande Group	1996	Hui	Public	47.9	140,000	Smart Infrastructure	Mainland China	77.17
26	16	Reliance Industries Limited	1966	Ambani	Public	47.4	24,167	Energy	India	47.7
27	23	Amer Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd.	1994	Wang	Private	46.6	15,500	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Mainland China	99
28	20	Casino Guichard Perrachon	1898	Naouri	Public	45.9	214,779	Consumer	France	51.3
29	17	Louis Dreyfus Holding B.V.	1851	Louis Dreyfus	Private	44.1	34,336	Consumer	Netherlands	79.61
30	57	Porsche Automobil Holding SE	1931	Porsche-Piech	Public	43.2	823	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Germany	52.2
31	34	IKEA Group	1943	Kamprad	Private	42.2	149,000	Consumer	Netherlands	100
32	30	Tata Motors Limited	1945	Tata	Public	41.4	79,558	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	India	73.2
33	36	George Weston Ltd. Company	1882	Weston	Public	38.5	198,000	Consumer	Canada	63.15
34	27	Tyson Foods Inc	1935	Tyson	Public	38.3	122,000	Consumer	United States	70.45
35	29	AP Moeller/Maersk Group	1904	Moller	Public	37.7	75,813	Smart Infrastructure	Denmark	70.3
36	63	Midea Group Co., Ltd	1968	He	Public	37.4	101,826	Consumer	Mainland China	33.93
37	35	Mars Incorporated	1891	Mars	Private	35.0	74,200	Consumer	United States	100
38	87	Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd	1992	Yang Guoqiang	Public	34.9	124,837	Smart Infrastructure	Mainland China	57.82
39	40	Nike Inc.	1964	Knight	Public	34.4	74,400	Consumer	United States	89.8 (Class A shares)
40	46	Power Corp. of Canada	1925	Desmarais	Public	34.3	30,400	Financial Services	Canada	59.19
41	24	Dalian Wanda Group	1988	Wang	Private	32.7	130,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Mainland China	>50.0
42	47	L’OrÃ©al SA	1909	Bettencourt	Public	31.8	82,606	Consumer	France	33.13
43	48	Enterprise Products Partners LP	1968	Duncan	Public	29.2	6,900	Energy	United States	36.9
44	42	21st Century Fox	1979	Murdoch	Public	28.5	21,700	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	United States	38.9
45	44	Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC)	1970	Aponte	Private	28.2	25,000	Smart Infrastructure	Switzerland	100
—	95	Altice Europe N.V.	2001	Drahi	Public	28.2	47,143	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	Netherlands	52.2
47	86	Itau Unibanco Banco Multiplo SA	1924	Moreira Salles and Souza Aranha	Public	28.0	99,332	Financial Services	Brazil	44.9
48	64	Randstad Holding NV	1960	Goldschmeding	Public	27.9	37,930	Financial Services	Netherlands	37.9
—	50	BCD Group	1975	Van Vlissingen	Private	27.9	14,500	Smart Infrastructure	Netherlands	100
50	53	Reyes Holdings L.L.C.	1976	Reyes	Private	27.8	31,000	Consumer	United States	100
51	49	C & S Wholesale Grocers Inc.	1918	Cohen	Private	27.0	17,000	Consumer	United States	100
52	209	Rajesh Exports Ltd.	1970	Mehta	Public	26.6	350	Consumer	India	53.89
53	52	PHOENIX Pharmahandel GmbH & Co KG	1994	Merckle	Private	26.4	34,145	Health Sciences & Wellness	Germany	100
54	60	Heineken Holding N.V.	1873	Heineken and Hoyer	Public	26.3	80,425	Consumer	Netherlands	50
—	107	Heraeus Holding GmbH	1851	Heraeus	Private	26.3	12,672	Energy	Germany	100
56	41	Penske Corporation	1969	Penske	Private	26.0	49,902	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	United States	>50.0
57	38	Bechtel Group Inc.	1898	Bechtel	Private	25.9	52,700	Smart Infrastructure	United States	100
58	37	Odebrecht S.A.	1944	Odebrecht and Gradin	Private	25.7	128,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Brazil	>82.0
59	66	Mercadona Sa	1977	Roig	Private	25.3	84,485	Consumer	Spain	100
60	84	CJ Corp.	1953	Lee	Public	25.2	7,700	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	South Korea	46.84
61	62	Societe De Negoce Et De Participation (Sonepar)	1969	Coisne and Lambert	Private	25.1	44,500	Financial Services	France	>50.0
—	82	Industria de Diseno Textil SA (Inditex)	1963	Ortega	Public	25.1	162,450	Consumer	Spain	59.29
63	55	H. E. Butt Grocery Company	1905	Butt	Private	25.0	86,000	Consumer	United States	100
—	77	Wanxiang Group	1969	Lu	Private	25.0	29,900	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Mainland China	100
65	61	Sodexo SA	1966	Bellon	Public	24.6	320,653	Smart Infrastructure	France	40.4
66	70	Henkel AG & Co. KGaA	1876	Henkel	Public	24.2	53,700	Consumer	Germany	61.02
67	65	H & M Hennes & Mauritz	1947	Stefan Persson	Public	23.9	123,178	Consumer	Sweden	73.2
68	69	Shv Holdings N.V.	1896	Fentener van Vlissingen	Private	23.9	60,100	Energy	Netherlands	100
69	56	Pilot Travel Centers LLC	1958	Haslam	Private	22.9	26,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	United States	50.1
70	71	Enterprise Holdings Inc.	1957	Taylor	Private	22.3	100,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	United States	87.5
71	39	Sears Holdings Corp.	1886	Lampert	Public	22.1	140,000	Smart Infrastructure	United States	49
72	132	BollorÃ© SA	1822	Bollore	Public	22.0	81,420	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	France	64.09
—	103	Marriott International, Inc.	1927	Marriott	Public	22.0	177,000	Smart Infrastructure	United States	66.3
74	94	CH Boehringer Sohn AG & Co KG	1885	Boehringer	Private	21.7	49,600	Health Sciences & Wellness	Germany	100
75	74	Formosa Petrochemical Corp	1992	Wang	Public	21.0	4,891	Energy	Taiwan	>50
76	68	Wittington Investments Ltd	1941	Weston	Private	20.9	133,913	Consumer	United Kingdom	100
77	81	Empresas COPEC SA	1934	Angelini	Public	20.5	14,922	Energy	Chile	38.55
—	80	Antarchile SA	1989	Angelini	Public	20.5	17,398	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Chile	74.36
79	83	Cox Enterprises Inc.	1898	Cox	Private	20.4	60,000	Consumer	United States	100
80	100	Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA	1792	Soares dos Santos	Public	19.5	92,741	Consumer	Portugal	56.1
—	72	Paccar Inc	1905	Pigott	Public	19.5	25,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	United States	>32.0
82	108	Merck KGaA	1668	Merck	Public	19.4	52,880	Health Sciences & Wellness	Germany	70
—	76	Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA	1835	Mohn	Private	19.4	118,794	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	Germany	100
84	85	Groupe Lactalis	1933	Besnier	Private	19.2	75,000	Consumer	France	100
85	59	Suntory Holdings Ltd.	1899	Saji	Private	19.1	37,745	Consumer	Japan	89.59
—	106	Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.	1968	Tata	Public	19.1	387,223	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	India	71.92
—	89	Kuehne + Nagel International AG	1890	Kuehne	Public	19.1	92,372	Smart Infrastructure	Switzerland	57.9
88	58	Loves Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc.	1964	Love	Private	19.0	22,000	Consumer	United States	100
89	124	Kering SA (ex PPR SA)	1963	FranÃ§ois Pinault	Public	18.6	44,055	Consumer	France	40.9
90	73	Techint Holdings SARL	1945	Rocca	Private	18.5	55,383	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Luxembourg	60.45
91	90	El Corte Ingles Sa	1940	Areces and Alvarez	Private	18.0	80,640	Smart Infrastructure	Spain	100
—	54	Koc Holding AS	1926	Koc	Public	18.0	94,111	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Turkey	64.29
93	99	Cencosud SA	1960	Paulmann	Public	17.7	135,821	Smart Infrastructure	Chile	60.03
—	18	Ineos Group	1998	Ratcliffe	Private	17.7	7,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Switzerland	61.8
95	88	Empire Co Ltd.	1963	Sobey	Public	17.4	125,000	Consumer	Canada	61.86
96	51	Lotte Shopping	1970	Shin	Public	17.0	38,927	Smart Infrastructure	South Korea	52.33
97	105	Schaeffler AG	1946	Schaeffler	Public	16.9	90,151	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	Germany	75.08
—	110	Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.	1949	Yanai	Public	16.9	44,424	Consumer	Japan	32.88
99	91	Cumberland Farms, Inc.	1938	Haseotes	Private	16.5	6,000	Consumer	United States	100
100	116	Rethmann SE & Co. KG	1934	Rethmann	Private	16.3	67,593	Energy	Germany	100

This list of the 100 largest U.S. family businesses is a subset of the largest 100 global family businesses compiled by EY and the University of St. Gallen.

To see the entire Global 500 Family Business Index, visit familybusinessindex.com

Sponsored by:

Text continued from the 100 Largest Global Family Businesses web page.

In 2019, there is substantial data on the board composition and CEO profile of each firm to give insight into the corporate governance of these large family-controlled companies. (Please note that this information is available at familybusinessindex.com and is not presented in the charts published in Family Business Magazine). For firms that also appeared in the 2017 index, more than a quarter (27%) of board directors are family members, the balance being drawn from outside the family. In comparison, for new entrants to the index this year, more than a fifth (23%) of board directors are drawn from the family, while almost four-fifths (77%) are non-family members. “Newer, younger companies are more likely to harness the expertise and perspectives of external directors from outside the family,” says van Rij, “but they also have fewer family members to draw from than family firms in the third or fourth generation.”

Family members serving on their companies' boards are overwhelmingly male—84% versus 16% female family board members. “Interestingly, we see no major improvement in diversity in new entrants to the Index,” says Zellweger. Women serve on only about 7% of the boards of these new entrants, he notes. Comparing the participation of female family members in the running of their companies with the 20% female directors of Fortune 500 companies, female family members are significantly less likely to be active on the board.

In the 2018 EY Global Family Business Survey, in which 525 of the world's largest family businesses were interviewed, board membership overall (including non-family members) comprised 16% women, a 20% increase on the 2014 survey. This suggests that family businesses may be better at harnessing female talent from outside the family than they are at engaging family members at the highest executive levels.

More than half (55%) of the CEOs in the 2019 index are non-family men, reflecting an increasing professionalization of the management of the world's largest family businesses, while 41% are run by a male family member. New entrants this year are more likely to be led by a family member than older incumbents, with 57% having a family CEO. This finding may reflect smaller and younger family companies' need to rely on family capital for growth, van Rij says. By contrast, “the very largest companies are more likely to utilize external sources of management.”

Just 4% of the companies on the index have a woman at the helm, 10 drawn from the family and eight from outside. New entrants are marginally more likely to have a female CEO (6%, compared with 3% of existing companies), but the numbers are too small to indicate any significant trend. This shows that family businesses are similar to Fortune 500 companies in CEO diversity: Just under 5% of Fortune 500 companies were run by a female CEO in 2018. Interestingly, diversity may be an area where smaller companies are more progressive. In the 2018 EY Growth Barometer survey of some 400 middle-market family businesses (with revenues under US$3b), family firms were significantly more likely than non-family firms to have a female CEO (9% compared with 3%).

US Rank	Global Rank	Company	Year Founded	Family	Public/ Private	Revenues (in $billions)	Employees	Sector	Family Voting Rights Percent
1	1	Wal-Mart Inc.	1962	Walton	Public	485.9	2,300,000	Consumer	50.83
2	3	Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.	1955	Buffett	Public	242.1	402,166	Financial Services	32
3	5	Ford Motor Company	1903	Ford	Public	156.8	202,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	40.00
4	7	Koch Industries Inc.	1940	Koch	Private	110.0	100,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	84
5	8	Cargill, Incorporated	1865	Cargill	Private	109.7	153,000	Consumer	100
6	12	Comcast Corp.	1963	Roberts	Public	84.5	164,000	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	33.32
7	15	Dell Technologies Inc.	1984	Dell	Public	61.6	138,000	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	75
8	34	Tyson Foods Inc	1935	Tyson	Public	38.3	122,000	Consumer	70.45
9	37	Mars Incorporated	1891	Mars	Private	35.0	74,200	Consumer	100
10	39	Nike Inc.	1964	Knight	Public	34.4	74,400	Consumer	89.8 (Class A shares)
11	43	Enterprise Products Partners LP	1968	Duncan	Public	29.2	6,900	Energy	36.9
12	44	21st Century Fox	1979	Murdoch	Public	28.5	21,700	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	38.9
13	50	Reyes Holdings L.L.C.	1976	Reyes	Private	27.8	31,000	Consumer	100
14	51	C & S Wholesale Grocers Inc.	1918	Cohen	Private	27.0	17,000	Consumer	100
15	56	Penske Corporation	1969	Penske	Private	26.0	49,902	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	>50.0
16	57	Bechtel Group Inc.	1898	Bechtel	Private	25.9	52,700	Smart Infrastructure	100
17	63	H. E. Butt Grocery Company	1905	Butt	Private	25.0	86,000	Consumer	100
18	69	Pilot Travel Centers LLC	1958	Haslam	Private	22.9	26,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	50.1
19	70	Enterprise Holdings Inc.	1957	Taylor	Private	22.3	100,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	87.5
20	71	Sears Holdings Corp.	1886	Lampert	Public	22.1	140,000	Smart Infrastructure	49
21	73	Marriott International, Inc.	1927	Marriott	Public	22.0	177,000	Smart Infrastructure	66.3
22	79	Cox Enterprises Inc.	1898	Cox	Private	20.4	60,000	Consumer	100
23	81	Paccar Inc.	1905	Pigott	Public	19.5	25,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	>32.0
24	88	Loves Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc.	1964	Love	Private	19.0	22,000	Consumer	100
25	99	Cumberland Farms, Inc.	1938	Haseotes	Private	16.5	6,000	Consumer	100
26	104	Meijer Inc.	1934	Meijer	Private	16.1	70,000	Smart Infrastructure	100
27	106	The GAP	1969	Fisher	Public	15.5	135,000	Consumer	52.94
28	111	JM Family Enterprises Inc.	1968	Moran	Private	15.1	4,048	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	100
29	124	Gordon Food Service Inc.	1897	Gordon	Private	13.7	17,000	Consumer	100
—	125	CBS Corp.	1986	Redstone	Public	13.7	12,700	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	79.5
—	126	Estee Lauder Cos., Inc.	1946	Lauder	Public	13.7	46,000	Consumer	87.00
32	135	Lennar Corporation	1954	Miller	Public	12.6	9,111	Smart Infrastructure	33.16
33	140	Allegis Group, Inc.	1983	Davis	Private	12.3	15,000	Financial Services	>50.0
34	151	Thomson Reuters Corp	1799	Thomson	Public	11.3	46,100	Financial Services	59.6
35	157	Molson Coors Brewing Co.	1786	Coors and Molson	Public	11.0	17,200	Consumer	92.5 (Class A shares)
—	160	Menard Inc.	1960	Menard	Private	11.0	45,000	Consumer	100
37	162	The Hearst Corporation	1887	Hearst	Private	10.8	20,000	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	100
38	168	Universal Health Services, Inc.	1979	Miller	Public	10.4	83,000	Health Sciences & Wellness	85.60
39	174	Medline Industries, Inc.	1966	Mills	Private	10.2	15,000	Health Sciences & Wellness	100
40	179	S. C. Johnson & Son Inc.	1886	Johnson	Private	10.0	13,000	Consumer	100
41	182	BLOOMBERG L.P.	1982	Bloomberg	Private	9.6	19,000	Financial Services	88
42	190	Hormel Foods Corp.	1891	Hormel	Public	9.2	20,200	Consumer	48.42
43	192	Gulf States Toyota Inc.	1969	Friedkin	Private	9.0	2,000	Consumer	100
44	194	Giant Eagle Inc.	1918	Shapira	Private	8.9	32,000	Consumer	100
45	197	RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc.	1934	Bolch	Private	8.7	8,282	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	100
—	198	Wegmans Food Markets Inc.	1916	Wegman	Private	8.7	48,000	Consumer	100
47	200	Amway Corp.	1959	van Andel and de Vos	Private	8.6	17,000	Consumer	100
48	204	SHI International Corp.	1989	Lee	Private	8.5	3,500	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	60
49	209	Constellation Brands Inc.	1972	Sands	Public	8.3	9,600	Consumer	58.08
50	213	News Corp.	1954	Murdoch	Public	8.1	26,000	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	39.40
51	216	Westlake Chemical Corp	1986	Chao	Public	8.0	8,800	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	71
—	217	Bass Pro Shops, Inc.	1971	Morris	Private	8.0	22,000	Smart Infrastructure	>50.0
53	219	Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc.	1948	Stack	Public	7.9	45,200	Smart Infrastructure	41.66
—	220	Campbell Soup Co.	1869	Dorrance	Public	7.9	18,000	Consumer	41
55	225	COTY	1904	Reimann	Public	7.7	22,000	Consumer	38.14
56	227	The Hershey Co.	1894	Hershey	Public	7.5	15,360	Consumer	81.20
—	230	Liberty Media Corp	1945	Malone	Public	7.5	4,393	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	47.70
—	231	Trammo, Inc.	1971	Stanton	Private	7.5	350	Financial Services	100
59	242	ABC Supply Co Inc	1982	Hendricks	Private	7.2	14,000	Financial Services	100
60	247	Kohler Co.	1873	Kohler	Private	7.0	35,000	Smart Infrastructure	96
61	255	Flex-N-Gate Corporation	1956	Khan	Private	6.8	13,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	100
62	258	Kingston Technology Company, Inc.	1987	Tu and Sun	Private	6.7	2,049	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	100
—	260	Ralph Lauren Corp.	1967	Lauren	Public	6.7	13,200	Consumer	83
64	262	Rock Ventures LLC	1985	Gilbert	Private	6.6	30,000	Financial Services	77
—	263	Sheetz Inc.	1952	Sheetz	Private	6.6	17,500	Consumer	90
66	265	Perdue Farms Inc.	1920	Perdue	Private	6.5	21,000	Consumer	100
67	267	Dillards, Inc.	1938	Dillard	Public	6.4	21,600	Smart Infrastructure	99.4 (Class B shares)
—	269	Franklin Resources, Inc.	1947	Johnson	Public	6.4	9,386	Financial Services	40
69	279	OSI Group LLC	1909	Lavin	Private	6.1	20,000	Consumer	100
70	284	J R Simplot Co	1923	Simplot	Private	6.0	10,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	100
—	286	Advance Publications Inc.	1922	Newhouse	Private	6.0	12,000	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	100
72	299	DOT Foods, Inc.	1960	Tracy	Private	5.7	5,300	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	100
73	304	Eby-Brown Company, LLC	1887	Wake	Private	5.6	2,300	Consumer	100
74	308	Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits	1968	Chaplin	Private	5.5	17,945	Consumer	50
—	309	Southwire Company, LLC	1937	Richards	Private	5.5	7,500	Energy	100
76	314	Kelly Services, Inc.	1946	Adderley	Public	5.4	7,800	Financial Services	93.5 (Class B shares)
77	326	Central National-Gottesman Inc.	1886	Wallach	Private	5.1	2,500	Financial Services	100
—	328	Sinclair Oil Corporation	1916	Holding	Private	5.1	1,200	Energy	100
79	330	Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.	1969	Carlson	Public	5.0	9,900	Technology, Media, Telecommunications	56.3
—	331	Demoulas Super Markets Inc	1916	Demoulas	Private	5.0	20,000	Consumer	100
—	332	Gilbane Inc.	1873	Gilbane	Private	5.0	2,738	Smart Infrastructure	100
—	333	The Renco Group Inc.	1975	Rennert	Private	5.0	12,000	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	100
83	339	Levi Strauss & Co.	1853	Haas	Private	4.9	13,800	Consumer	68.3
—	340	Clark Enterprises, Inc.	1972	Clark	Private	4.9	4,200	Financial Services	100
85	345	E. & J. Gallo Winery	1933	Gallo	Private	4.8	6,500	Consumer	100
—	349	The Walsh Group Ltd	1898	Walsh	Private	4.8	6,500	Smart Infrastructure	100
87	359	Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc.	1945	Wanek	Private	4.7	23,000	Consumer	85
—	360	Hyatt Hotels Corp.	1957	Pritzker	Public	4.7	45,000	Smart Infrastructure	57.6
89	362	Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc.	1957	Colburn	Private	4.6	6,200	Financial Services	100
—	363	Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.	1977	Green	Private	4.6	28,000	Smart Infrastructure	100
—	365	The Kraft Group LLC	1972	Kraft	Private	4.6	9,500	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	100
92	370	New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.	1906	Davis	Private	4.5	1,525	Consumer	95
—	372	Save Mart Supermarkets	1952	Piccinini	Private	4.5	15,500	Consumer	96
94	381	Discount Tire Company	1960	Halle	Private	4.4	18,635	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	100
—	382	Dole Food Company, Inc.	1851	Murdock	Private	4.4	75,000	Consumer	55
—	383	Mansfield Energy	1957	Mansfield	Private	4.4	560	Energy	100
—	386	Schneider National Inc.	1935	Schneider	Public	4.4	19,600	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	94
—	387	Amkor Technology, Inc.	1968	Kim	Public	4.4	22,200	Advanced Manufacturing & Mobility	57
99	395	Stater Brothers Holdings	1936	Brown	Private	4.3	18,000	Consumer	>50.0
100	399	The Wonderful Company	1979	Resnick	Private	4.2	9,000	Consumer	100

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Family Business Magazine has long presented a ranking of the 100 oldest family businesses in the United States. Our first list appeared in 1999, based on research by the late Professor William O'Hara, former president of Bryant University in Smithfield R.I., and his associate Peter Mandel. The list has since been updated multiple times. Our last significant update was published in 2011.

Each time we publish the list, “new” companies that might qualify emerge. This latest ranking includes several companies we missed in previous lists, and excludes several companies that were sold out of family ownership or went out of business in the past decade.

The year 1850 is a pivotal one for the current list. That's the year of founding for those tied as the “youngest” of the oldest American family businesses, meaning that all the companies on this list are 169 years old at minimum. The very oldest company, Avedis Zildjian Co., is just four years shy of its 400th birthday, and already well into Generation 15 and 16 of family ownership. Ten companies on our list were founded before 1700, and 25 were founded before 1776, the birth year of the United States.

As always, farms and agricultural companies dominate among these elder American firms, followed closely by funeral homes. But there are a number of other business types to be found, including jewelers, pharmacists and flag makers.

If, after all these years, we've still missed a company that should be included, please contact David Shaw, Family Business Magazine's publishing director, with further details. He may be reached at dshaw@familybusinessmagazine.com.

Current Ranking	Year Founded	Company	Family	Sector	City	State
1	1623	Avedis Zildjian Co.	Zildjian	Cymbals	Norwell	MA
2	1638	Shirley Plantation	Hill/Carter	Historic site	Charles City	VA
3	1639	Field View Farm	Hine	Dairy and farm machinery	Orange	CT
4	1642	Barker’s Farm	Barker	Produce	North Andover	MA
5	1661	Wells Farm	Wells	Farm, slaughter facility	Riverhead	NY
6	1663	Sickles Market	Sickles	Produce, florist and grocery market	Little Silver	NJ
7	1667	The Seaside Inn and Cottages	Mason	Inn	Kennebunkport	ME
8	1680	Saunderskill Farms	Schoonmaker	Produce, baked goods, plants	Accord	NY
9	1684	Slaughterton	Reynolds	Farm, bread bakers	Sudlersville	MD
10	1697	Howell Farm	Howell	Farm	Cedarville	NJ
11	1705	The John Stevens Shop	Benson	Stone Carving	Newport	RI
12	1712	The Orchards of Concklin	Concklin	Produce, bakery, plants	Pomona	NY
13	1713	Sherwood Farm	Sherwood	Farm	Easton	CT
14	1720	Smiling Hill Farm & Hillside Lumber	Knight	Dairy farming, lumber	Westbrook	ME
15	1722	Nourse Farm	Nourse	Berries, fruits and vegetables	Westborough	MA
16	1728	Clark Farm	Hobart-Clark	Agriculture	Danvers	MA
17	1730	Sabine Hall Plantation	Carter/Wellford Descendents	Historic home	Warsaw	VA
18	1741	W.D. Cowls Inc.	Jones	Timberland management, real estate, retail sales	North Amherst	MA
—	1741	Lyman Orchards	Lyman	Apples, berries, baked goods, golf	Middlefield	CT
20	1750	Parlange Plantation	Parlange	Cattle, sugarcane	New Roads	LA
21	1759	Normandy Farms	Daniels	Campground	Foxboro	MA
22	1761	Great Brook Farm	Graves	Dairy farm	Walpole	NH
23	1769	Bachman Funeral Home	Bachman	Funeral Services	Strasburg	PA
24	1774	Stuart Land & Cattle Co.	Stuart	Cattle	Rosedale	VA
25	1776	Westcroft Gardens	de Beausset	Nursery	GrosseIle	MI
26	1780	Laird & Co.	Laird	Brandy distiller	Scobeyville	NJ
27	1783	Juanita M. Joiner Farm	Joiner	Agriculture	Millen	GA
28	1785	Turpin Sod Farms	Turpin	Sod Farm	Cincinnati	OH
29	1786	Molson Coors	Coors and Molson	Brewery	Denver	CO
30	1789	George R. Ruhl & Son Inc.	Ruhl	Bakery supplies	Hanover	MD
—	1789	Nathan Trotter & Co. Inc.	Etherington	Non-ferrous metals	Coatesville	PA
32	1798	Alan McIlvain Company	McIlvain	Lumber, custom mouldings	Marcus Hook	PA
33	1802	The Homestead	Hayward	Inn	Sugar Hill	NH
—	1802	Rogers Funeral Home	Rogers	Funeral services	Frankfort	KY
35	1805	Samuel T. Freeman & Co.	Freeman	Auction house	Philadelphia	PA
36	1807	John Wiley & Sons	Wiley	Publishing house	Hoboken	NJ
37	1809	Rogers Orchards	Rogers	Orchard	Southington	CT
38	1812	Bear Funeral Home	Bear	Funeral services	Churchville	VA
39	1813	Dickinson Company	Dickinson and Hubbard	Salt and natural resource management		WV
—	1813	Continental Grain Companies	Fribourg	Grain, feed, food processing	New York	NY
41	1815	Loane Bros. Inc.	Loane	Tents, awnings, party rentals	Baltimore	MD
42	1818	Hepworth Farms	Hepworth Farms	Organic farms	Milton	NY
43	1818	Eaton Funeral Homes	Eaton	Funeral services	Needham	MA
44	1820	Harris Funeral Home	Harris	Funeral services	Roscoe	NY
—	1820	Welles Mill Co., Inc.	Welles	Heating oil/fuel dealer	Towanda	PA
46	1822	Stuard Funeral Home	Stuard	Funeral services	Ardmore	PA
47	1824	Ashaway Line and Twine Mfg. Co.	Crandall	Manufacturing	Ashaway	RI
48	1825	Milward Funeral Directors	Milward	Funeral services	Lexington	KY
—	1825	M.A. Patout & Son Ltd.	Patout	Sugar, syrup, molasses	Jeanerette	LA
50	1826	Henry W.T. Mali & Company	Mali	Billiards	New York	NY
51	1827	M. H. Parks Company	Parks	Woodworking and furniture	Winchendon	MA
52	1828	Cornell Iron Works	Cornell	Industrial door manufacturing	Mountaintop	PA
—	1828	George Jerome & Co.	Jerome	Civil engineering, land surveying	Roseville	MI
54	1829	D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc.	Yuengling	Brewery	Pottsville	PA
55	1830	E.A. Clore Sons Inc.	Utz, Coppage	Furniture	Madison	VA
—	1830	Woolrich Inc.	Brayton and WP Lavori	Apparel, outdoor products	Woolrich	PA
57	1831	Faries Funeral Directors and Crematorium Inc.	Faries, Timblin	Funeral services	Smyrna	DE
58	1832	Cornwell Jewelers	Cornwell	Jeweler	Athens	OH
—	1832	Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Co.	Bevin	Bells	East Hampton	CT
—	1832	William H. Sadlier Inc.	Dinger	Publishing	New York	NY
61	1833	C.F. Martin & Co.	Martin	Guitars	Nazareth	PA
62	1834	Bahney’s	Bahney	Furniture retailer	Myerstown	PA
63	1835	Hussey Seating Company	Hussey	Seat manufacturing	North Berwick	ME
—	1835	McLanahan Corp.	McLanahan	Mining equipment	Hollidaysburg	PA
65	1836	Bromberg and Co. Inc.	Bromberg	Retail jeweler	Birmingham	AL
—	1836	Thompson Rexall Drug Co.	Thompson	Pharmacy	Spring Valley	IL
67	1837	Garretson Farm	Garretson	Agriculture	Salem	IA
—	1837	Harland Family Farm	Harland	Cattle, corn, soybeans, oats, turnips	LaFayette	IL
69	1838	McCall Farms	Swink	Food service products	Effingham	SC
70	1839	Brinly-HardyCompany	Hardy	Lawn and garden tractor accessories manufacturer	Jeffersonville	IN
—	1839	Schaeffer Manufacturing Company	Herrmann, Shields	Lubricants	St. Louis	MO
—	1839	Southworth Co.	Southworth	Paper mill	Agawam	MA
—	1839	Suter’s Handcrafted Furniture	Suter	Handcrafted furniture	Harrisonburg	VA
74	1840	Antoine’s Restaurant	Alciatore, Guste, Blount	Restaurant	New Orleans	LA
—	1840	Wittich’s Candy Shop	Wittich	Confectioner	Circleville	OH
76	1841	Hilenmeyer Landscape Services	H8illenmeyer	Landscaping company	Lexington	KY
77	1842	The Verdin Co.	Verdin	Bells, clocks, monuments, equipment	Cincinnati	OH
—	1842	Crescent Jewelry Company	Heiser	Jewelry	Hannibal	MO
79	1843	Pickering Hill Farms	Pickering	Vegetables, fruit, cheeses, herbs	Avon	OH
—	1843	Kentwool	Kent	Textiles	Greenville	SC
81	1844	S.W. Collins Co.	Collins	Lumber, building materials	Caribou	ME
—	1844	Gold Star Farms	Richmond	Dairy	Lowell	MI
—	1844	Harden Furniture Company	Harden	Furniture	McConnellsville	NY
84	1845	Clark’s Ace Hardware	Clark	Hardware	Ellicott City	MD
—	1845	Wise Funeral Service	Wise	Funeral services	Bucyrus	OH
86	1847	Faller’s Furniture/Faller Funeral Home Inc./Fryburg Old Treasures Depot	Faller	Furniture, funeral services, antiques	Clarion and Fryburg	PA
—	1847	Holmes’ Brothers Farm of Wayne County	Holmes	Cattle, timber	Wayne County	MO
—	1847	Annin Flagmakers	Beard and Dennis	Flag makers	Roseland	NJ
89	1848	Bentley Management Group/Bentley World-Packaging Ltd.	Bentley	Development, export packaging	Milwaukee	WI
—	1848	Hancock Lumber Company/Hancock Land Company	Hancock	Sawmill, retail, timberland management	Casco	ME
—	1848	The Pastene Companies Ltd.	Tosi	Italian food importer	Canton	MA
—	1848	Richardson Industries	Richardson	Building products, yacht interiors, retail furniture	Sheboygan	WI
93	1849	The Baldwin Place	Baldwin	Farm	Asheboro	NC
—	1849	The Hager Companies	Hager	Door hardware	St. Louis	MO
—	1849	Teeters Furniture/Teeters Funeral Chapel	Teeter	Furniture, funeral services	Hawley	PA
96	1850	G. Krug & Son	Krug	Metalworking	Baltimore	MD
—	1850	Hewell’s Pottery, Inc.	Hewell	Pottery	Gillsville	GA
—	1850	Menasha Corporation	Smith	Packaging, logistics, marketing	Neenah	WI
—	1850	A.E. Schmidt Company	Schmidt	Billiards	St. Louis	MO
—	1850	Wilbert Funeral Home	Wilbert	Funeral services, burial park, vaults, insurance	Plaquemine	LA

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The 100 Largest Global and U.S. Family Businesses and the 100 Oldest U.S. Family Businesses

About the largest global and U.S. family business lists

Insights from the 2019 EY and University of St. Gallen Global Family Business Index

Characteristics of 2019 Index Firms

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Current Issue

Family Business MagazineMarch/April 2024

Sections

Current Issue

Family Business MagazineMarch/April 2024

The 100 Largest Global and U.S. Family Businesses and the 100 Oldest U.S. Family Businesses

Keep It In the Family.

About the largest global and U.S. family business lists

Insights from the 2019 EY and University of St. Gallen Global Family Business Index

Characteristics of 2019 Index Firms

About the Author(s)

Related Articles

Ownership transitions: You can't always get what you want

New study finds family firms enable women CEOs to shine

A foundation of respect

Equipped for anything

How family-owned businesses structure CEO pay

Managing Cyber Threats and Privacy Concerns of Generative AI: Insights for family businesses and family offices

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

About Us

Subscribe | Register

Advertise

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Family Business Magazine
March/April 2024

Family Business Magazine
March/April 2024