Before the billions: how the world’s great family businesses turned humble origins into empires that endure

In 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on a small, disused brewery at St James’s Gate in Dublin for just £45 annually. This wasn’t merely a business transaction; it was a statement of faith in the future. The brewery initially produced ale, but the family’s crucial pivot to porter—a dark, rich English beer—in the 1770s proved transformative.

By perfecting this brew and adapting it for long sea voyages, they created the Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, establishing a brand so iconic it would become synonymous with Ireland itself, exported to markets across the globe within decades.

Though the family no longer manages the brewery after its 1986 merger with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo, they remain significant shareholders and one of the UK’s wealthiest families.

After several early business failures, Frank C Mars began making and selling buttercream candy from his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington, around 1911. His entrepreneurial persistence paid dividends in 1923 with the invention of the Milky Way bar, inspired by the popular malted milkshakes of the era.

This single innovation catapulted his modest operation into a confectionery powerhouse, setting the foundation for an empire, now home to M&Ms, Snickers and more, that would ultimately become one of the world’s largest private companies.

The fourth and fifth generations of the Mars family still own the company entirely, maintaining their legendary secrecy while serving on the board of directors.

This family business traces its roots to 1834, when Antonio de Ayala and Domingo Róxas established a small distillery in the Philippines. Through strategic evolution and visionary real estate development—notably transforming agricultural land into Makati City, the nation’s premier business district—the family built Ayala Corporation into the country’s oldest and largest conglomerate, spanning banking, telecommunications and infrastructure.

The seventh and eighth generations remain actively involved, with family members holding senior executive positions across the group’s diversified businesses.

The Wertheimer fortune began not with founding, but with astute business acumen. In 1924, brothers Pierre and Paul Wertheimer, already successful cosmetics entrepreneurs, partnered with Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel to mass-produce her revolutionary fragrance, Chanel No 5. Providing full financing in exchange for a 70 per cent stake in Parfums Chanel, they transformed a boutique product into a global luxury icon.

Their pragmatic partnership—divorcing the brand from its creator to ensure its longevity—established principles of discretion and strategic control that define their approach to ownership today. The privately held House of Chanel is now co-owned by third-generation brothers Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, whose combined fortune sits at over US$80 billion.

In 1868, Jamsetji Tata founded a trading firm in colonial India with a purpose transcending profit: to build his nation’s industrial base and foster self-reliance. His vision materialised through India’s first large-scale steel company, pioneering hydroelectric power plants, and the world-class Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai. This philosophy—capitalism as nation-building—became the group’s foundational DNA, earning it unparalleled moral standing and public trust that no mere profit-seeking enterprise could replicate.

Today, the Tata Group operates through family-controlled philanthropic trusts, with the next generation being groomed to lead one of India’s most respected conglomerates spanning steel, automotive, IT services and hospitality industries.

The Charoen Pokphand Group began modestly in 1921 when immigrant brothers Chia Ek Chor and Choncharoen Chiaravanont opened a small shop in Bangkok’s Chinatown, selling seeds imported from China to local farmers. Through vertical integration, strategic government partnerships and aggressive diversification into telecommunications and retail, CP Group transformed from a seed supplier into one of the world’s largest agribusiness enterprises, reshaping food production across Asia and beyond.

The third generation now leads the conglomerate, with the founder’s sons serving as chairman and CEO of an empire spanning animal feed, livestock, 7-Eleven franchises and telecommunications.

In 1949, Robert Kuok and his brothers founded Kuok Brothers Limited in Johor Bahru as a modest family trading operation, dealing in rice, sugar and wheat flour. Through strategic market positioning and geographical expansion, they dominated Malaysia’s sugar sector, controlling 80 per cent of domestic production and 10 per cent of global trade by the 1960s.

This commodity foundation financed diversification into hospitality, real estate and logistics, establishing a multinational conglomerate operating across continents. Today, the Kuok Group’s vast interests include the world-renowned Shangri-La Hotels chain, with Robert Kuok and the second generation maintaining control over one of Asia’s most dynamic business empires.

NOW READ

Multi-billion superstar: how Scarlett Johansson became the undisputed queen of the box office

6 standout Halloween campaigns of 2025 from Maybelline, Lego and more

9 Asian billionaires entering global sports ownership, from Joseph Tsai’s Nets to Ambani’s Mumbai Indians