[SIZE=6]The world’s largest family-controlled firms[/SIZE]
When we think of family businesses, we tend to conjure up images of homely convenience stores and humble neighborhood pizza parlors; small-scale operations competing with huge faceless multinationals. Yet a surprising number of these massive global enterprises are still family-controlled. Here are the 25 largest family-owned firms on the planet, according to the latest Global Family Business Index, compiled by the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
A privately-held firm is considered family-owned if a family controls more than 50% of the voting rights, while a publicly-held company is defined as family-owned if a family holds at least a 32% share of the voting rights. All company revenue figures quoted from St. Galen University.