On December 14, Bloomberg announced the 2023 Global Family Wealth Rankings. The wealth of the world's 25 richest households reached 2.13 trillion US dollars (about 15 trillion yuan), an increase of 1.5 trillion US dollars, or 43%, from the previous ranking.
In terms of country of residence, there are 8 in the United States, 4 in France, 3 in Germany, and 1 each in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, and China. Guo Desheng's family ranks 24th on the list with a wealth of 32.5 billion US dollars (about 231 billion yuan).
Sun Hung Kai Properties is the largest real estate company in Hong Kong by market capitalization, with representative projects including Hong Kong International Finance Centre (IFC), International Commerce Centre (ICC), Shanghai IFC, Shanghai IFC, Guangzhou IGC Mall, etc. As at the end of June 2023, the Group's total land bank in Mainland China and Hong Kong was approximately 58 million square feet in terms of floor area.
Although Sun Hung Kai's management has gradually transitioned to the third generation (Kwok Bingjiang's son Kwok Kei-fai, Kwok Pinglian's sons Kwok Ho-li and Kwok Kei-hong), the 94-year-old Kwong Xiaoqing (Kwok Tak-sheng's widow) is still Sun Hung Kai's largest shareholder and has the highest decision-making power. She has been the richest woman in Hong Kong by Forbes for many years, and not long ago topped the "2023 Hurun Women Entrepreneurs List", becoming the richest woman in China for the first time, and her net worth rose 4% to 72 billion yuan.
There are 3 families with a wealth of more than $150 billion. In third place, the Hermès family, which has been around for six generations and 186 years since Thierry Hermès founded the brand in 1837, still holds more than two-thirds of the luxury manufacturer's shares.
A few days ago, Nicolas Puech, one of the fifth-generation heirs of the Hermès family and the largest individual shareholder, is over eighty years old and childless, and has made a surprising decision: he will adopt the family's gardener to inherit part of his property. According to the Forbes real-time list of the richest people, his latest net worth reached $11.1 billion. There has been much speculation about the motives behind the move, with rumours that Pujci formed a strong friendship with the 51-year-old gardener from Morocco during his stay-at-home quarantine.
From left to right, Jim, Alice, and Rob
For the first time in five years, the Walton family is in second place, with a fortune of $259.7 billion and a 46 percent stake in Walmart. On the "2023 Forbes Global Billionaires List", a total of 7 members of the family are on the list: founder Sam Walton's eldest son Rob, eldest daughter Alice, youngest son Jim, widow Christie and grandson Lucas of the late son John, and two daughters of younger brother Budd, Ann Walton Kroenke and Nancy Walton Laurie.
Founded in 1962 and headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart is the world's largest retailer, operating more than 10,500 stores (Walmart Shopping Mall, Sam's Club, Walmart Store, Walmart Community Store) and multiple e-commerce sites in 19 countries. In the third quarter of fiscal 202 (three months ended October 31, 2023), revenue increased 5.2% year-over-year to $160.8 billion. Among them, net sales in the Chinese market surged 25.3% year-on-year to US$4.5 billion, with Sam's Club and e-commerce becoming important drivers of growth.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
For the first time, the Al Nahyans made it to the top of the annual family wealth rankings, with US$305 billion (about 2.2 trillion yuan) in assets. As the ruler of Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate of the United Arab Emirates, he not only sits on rich oil reserves, but also invests extensively in the sports industry, real estate in Berkeley Square in London, a dozen castles in Paris, France, and technology companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX.
In the field of sports industry, the City Football Group, led by Mansour, has the management and even ownership of 10 clubs in England, Italy, Spain, China and other countries. The most well-known of these is Manchester City FC in the English Premier League, which has won 20 titles since its arrival in '08, including 7 league titles, 3 FA Cups and 1 Champions League. The 2022-2023 season saw a new Premier League record with a total club income of £712.8 million.