Family values: how profitable are "dynastic" companies. The oldest companies in the world The oldest family companies

A company is considered a long-liver if it has existed for more than 10 years, and we can’t even talk about such terms as hundreds of years. Domestic businessmen need to learn how to extend the life of their company from foreign companies some of them have been in operation for centuries.

Fun Fact #1: For example, a construction company in Kongō Gumi Co.,Ltd in Japan was founded in 578, and ended its existence in 2006, that is, after 15 centuries. At first she prospered by building castles for kings, then, during the Second World War, she had to sell coffins. Whether it had to produce corrugated PVC pipes is unknown. But by the end of the 20th century, the company had accumulated a lot of debt and in 2006 it was taken over by a rival firm.

Fun Fact #2: Almost as long worked and another Japanese Hōshi company specializing in hotel business. The first inn of this brand was opened to guests in 718. The firm has been continuously managed by 46 generations of the same family.

Fun Fact #3: In the capital Austria Vienna has a restaurant Stiftskeller St. peter, founded in 803. During his work, both crowned heads and even himself visited here. Christopher Columbus.

Fun Fact #4: One of the first breweries in Bavaria Weihenstephan Brewery of Bavaria has been brewing beer since 1040, when she received permission to produce this popular drink. Beer can be tasted in this institution today.

Fun Fact #5: Another brewery Affligem Abbey brewery of Belgium, already in Belgium, was founded by monks in 1074, and since then the beer recipe has not changed.

Fun Fact #6: Upper levels of salt mines open for tourists in Wieliczka The Wieliczka Salt Mine, which were founded in 1044. At the lower levels of the mines there is a restaurant and a church. At one time the mines were visited by Goethe, Copernicus, Bill Clinton.

Fun Fact #7: Mint Kremnica in Slovakia has been producing coins since 1328. The Second World War caused great damage to the equipment, but gradually it was restored.


According to a study by Italian economists, the richest families in today's Florence are the descendants of the richest Florentine families who lived in the city on the Arno almost 600 years ago.

Many Florentine taxpayers for 1427 and 2011 have the same not only names and incomes, but also professions. The family business is the strongest and most durable. There are several hundred family companies on the planet over 200 years old. Japan impresses with its centenarians: the age of several Japanese enterprises is approaching one and a half thousand years.

Wine seven hundred years old

Lamberto Frescobaldi lives near Florence, in a medieval castle that belonged to his ancestors for many centuries, and heads the family business. The ancestors of Signor Frescobaldi were winemakers - they supplied red wine to the court of Pope Leo X and Michelangelo.

“A person should feel his heritage on the tongue,” Bloomberg quotes the words of the 53-year-old Florentine winemaker Bloomberg. “The main thing is to properly dispose of it ...”

Many generations of the Frescobaldi clan have been engaged in the preservation and enhancement of the family fortune for more than 700 years. For Lamberto, the family heritage lies in one word - "wine". His acquaintance with red wine took place at the age of six, when Lamberto took part in a summer festival with winegrowers.

"Of course, they could not treat me with water," he defends the workers. "After all, I was the owner's son!"

Lamberto Frescobaldi graduated from the University of California at Davis with a degree in viticulture and is now the head of the Marchesi Frescobaldi Group. It bottles 11 million bottles of wine a year and is one of the largest in Italy. Lamberto even named his dog Brunello after the Brunello di Montalcino wine that his company produces.

Before entering the wine industry in 1308, the Frescobaldi were wool merchants and bankers. They financed, for example, the wars of King Edward I in Wales and France. The Frescobaldi family left a significant mark on the history of Florence. They built the first bridge in the city, the Holy Trinity Bridge. Among the members of this family are Giloramo Frescobaldi, one of the most famous composers of the early Baroque, and the poet Dino Frescobaldi. Dino collected and preserved the first seven songs of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy when he was sent into exile. This helped Dante complete the ingenious creation.

The Frescobaldi dynasty is not unique to Florence, the main city of Tuscany. Bank of Italy economic analysts Guglielmo Barone and Sauro Mocetti set out to trace intergenerational mobility in the city on the Arno. They compared data on Florentine taxpayers' payments for 1427 and 2011 and found a very significant constancy of socioeconomic status, which persists not for years, but for centuries.

Mobility is usually measured by intergenerational elasticity, or the correlation between paternal status and adult son status. The elasticity of intergenerational income, i.e. the ease with which individuals can change their income and level of socioeconomic status from generation to generation, measured from 0 to 1. Zero means complete intergenerational mobility, and 1 means complete inability to change income or status. The higher the elasticity, the lower the mobility. In the case of country incomes, for example, the elasticity varies widely, from less than 0.2 in the Scandinavian countries to almost 0.5 in Italy, the UK and the US.

Research organization Conference Board of Canada estimates the elasticity of income in the UK at 0.48, and in Italy - 0.5. These estimates, according to the London Independent, are relatively high compared to countries such as Denmark and Norway, where elasticity is 0.15 and 0.18 respectively.

Florentine Phenomenon

Giloramo Frescobaldi was not engaged in winemaking, he glorified his family as one of the most famous composers of the early Baroque

Most scientists have studied intergenerational mobility empirically and paid attention to the correlation of socioeconomic status between two neighboring generations - parents and their children. They share the theory that the economic advantages and disadvantages of previous generations quickly wear off after a few decades. American sociologists Gary Becker and Nigel Thomas, for example, argue in Human Capital, The Rise and Fall of Families (1986) that nearly all advantages or disadvantages in ancestral income disappear within three generations.

Barone and Mocetti take the opposite view.

"The dramatic political, demographic and economic upheavals that have taken place in the city (Florence) over the course of six centuries have failed to cut the Gordian knot of the socio-economic legacy," they write in a research article published on the economic portal VoxEU.

Italian economists chose the year 1427 not by chance: Florence, waging a grueling war with Milan, was on the verge of financial and political collapse. And, in order to increase the collection of taxes, the Florentine priors re-registered 10 thousand taxpayers (not only the names and surnames of the heads of families were indicated, but also their profession, income and fortunes).

Guglielmo Barone and Sauro Mocetti compared this data with Florentines' 2011 tax returns. It turned out that a good nine hundred names still exist today. Moreover, many bearers of old well-known names continue to pay high taxes, that is, they are now rich. Of course, due to the peculiarities of Italian surnames (often they were given according to the place of birth), simple coincidences are also possible, but most representatives of the same surnames are still blood relatives.

The socio-economic ladder of the city was dominated six centuries ago by powerful and wealthy guilds. Among the wealthiest Florentine taxpayers of that time were representatives of the shoemakers' guild, the silk guild, and the wool guild. Representatives of the guild of judges and notaries were quite a bit inferior to them in terms of income.

Lamberto Frescobaldi heads the Marchesi Frescobaldi company, one of the largest in Italy, and his ancestors supplied red wine to the court of Pope Leo X

For example, a number of the wealthiest families in Florence today are descendants of the most successful shoemakers of the 15th century. In the guild of shoemakers, the coincidence of the names of wealthy taxpayers in 1427 and 2011 is 97%, and in the silk guild and the guild of judges and notaries - 93%. Every third Florentine rich man of the 15th century remains wealthy today.

Analyzing tax records for 2011, Italian economists found that the five richest families on a five-year-old list of Florentine taxpayers that they don't name for ethical reasons broadly match those who paid the highest taxes 600 years ago. The wealthiest Florentine families earned between €64,228 and €146,489 in 2011.

Among the five poorest taxpayers in Florence in the 15th and XXI centuries there are also great similarities. The annual income of low-paid Florentines in 2011 ranged from €5,945 to €9,702.

A number of professions, such as shoemakers, lawyers, bankers and jewelers, show high temporal stability. A similar positive correlation, although to a lesser extent, has been found in doctors and pharmacists.

"The ancestors of the richest taxpayers of our time were at the very top of the socioeconomic ladder six centuries ago," say the Italian scholars.

A study by Italian economists testifies to the constancy of status. Moreover, it is the most stable among the richest

A study by Italian economists shows that changes in fortunes and socioeconomic status over 25 generations have been minimal, with limited opportunities to move up the socioeconomic ladder in Florence over 600 years.

Guglielmo Barone and Sauro Mocetti believe that low social and economic mobility is not only socially unfair, it can cause serious harm to society: “Societies characterized by high socioeconomic status transfer are often unfair. that it wastes the talents and experience of its members of low birth."

According to Barone and Mocetti, the rich are more likely to maintain high status for centuries - thanks to the so-called "glass floor that protects the descendants of wealthy people from falling down the economic ladder."

Someone may have associations between the studies of Italian scientists and the French economist Thomas Piketty, the author of the theory of growing income inequality, especially among the richest 1% of the population. The Italians themselves deny any connection with the works of Piketty, emphasizing that the purpose of their study is economic mobility. The message is that the rich stay rich, but it does not imply that they will necessarily get richer. Italian economists argue that their study shows that status is stable, and that it is the most stable among the richest.

And the circle of research by Barone and Mocetti is much wider: the focus of their attention is not 1% of the rich, but the entire population of Florence.

By country and continent

Photo: Science Museum London/DIOMEDIA

In Japan, the percentage of family businesses among registered firms is close to one hundred (96.5%)

Of course, state can be inherited. Parents play important role in determining social status. This theory is supported by other studies. Sociologists, for example, have come to the conclusion that even now, 140 years after the abolition of the Japanese samurai class, their descendants are included in the social elite of the Land of the Rising Sun, despite the fact that samurai and other representatives of the Japanese aristocracy have long lost their privileges, and all Japanese, under the current constitution, are equal. Gregory Clark, professor at the University of California, writes about the preservation - for centuries - of wealth and status in his book "The Rise of the Son". And he does not hide his surprise at how much the well-being and condition of contemporaries depends on what their ancestors did and how successfully they did it several centuries ago.

Logic would seem to suggest that, as far as Japan is concerned, dramatic social upheavals such as the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ended Japan's feudal system, or the defeat in World War II should give rise to low social mobility. However, Clark's work refutes this logic.

A study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that in many European countries, not only wealth and income are "sticky", but also professions that also pass from generation to generation.

More than a third of the richest Italians have inherited their money. In the United States, 29% are, and in China, according to a study conducted in 2014 by the Institute international economy Peterson, only 2%.

The highest level of billionaire heirs among developed economies is in Germany, 65%. In general, heirs and heirs make up about half of Western European billionaires.

"You can hardly find another country where the social origin of income is higher than in Germany," says Marcel Fratzscher, director of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), in a recent book.

The high proportion of family-rich people in Germany is partly a consequence of a tax system that, until literally 2016, allowed family companies, including the mass of medium-sized firms that are the backbone of the economy, to transfer financial assets by inheritance, while paying a very low special tax.

A descendant of perhaps the richest European family of the 16th century, Count Alexander Fugger-Babenhausen considers the preservation of family fortunes a great responsibility. The 34-year-old aristocrat recently returned to his homeland after several years at a London-based investment bank. Now he manages family assets and does charity work.

Residents of the Augsburg Fuggerei, cozy two-story houses with terraces, annually pay one Rhine florin bequeathed by Jakob Fugger, which corresponds to the current ... € 0.88. In exchange for a purely symbolic rent, they must say prayers three times a day for the salvation of the souls of the founder of the social shelter and his family.

By the way, 140 Fugger apartments also proved their strength, having survived an astronomical number of wars and partial destruction during the Second World War. They were restored according to old plans. The unique decoration of the Renaissance period has also been preserved, including, for example, lever mechanisms for opening doors that allowed residents to let guests in without leaving the only heated room in the house.

Family business is the strongest

There are about 200 family companies in the world with an annual turnover exceeding $2 billion. Suffice it to say that the largest retail network Planet Wal-Mart Stores.

Family business plays a very important role in the economy of many countries. Its strongest positions are in trade and services. Family businesses employ nearly half of the planet's workforce and produce more than half of the world's GDP.

"The family business arose before the advent of multinational corporations," writes Professor William O'Hara, director of the Institute family business(IFE) at Bryant University.—He appeared before the industrial revolution. The family business existed before Greece and the Roman Empire. Most of the old family companies, for all their individuality and dissimilarity, are united by the fact that they work in basic areas human activity and are engaged in the production of alcoholic beverages and foodstuffs, weapons, transportation of goods, construction, etc. "

In Japan, the percentage of family businesses among registered firms is approaching one hundred (96.5%). Quite a bit inferior to the Japanese Indians and Mexicans. In these countries, the share of family business is 95%

If we talk about geography, then the family business has received the greatest development in three countries. In Japan, the percentage of family businesses among registered firms is approaching one hundred (96.5%). Quite a bit inferior to the Japanese Indians and Mexicans. In these countries, the share of family businesses is 95%.

According to American economists Melissa Shanker and Joseph Astrakhan, there are 24 million family businesses in the United States. They employ 62% of all American workers, and their contribution to the country's GDP is 64%. BusinessWeek magazine estimated that in 2006 more than a third of Fortune 500 members (35%) belonged to family companies.

The notion that family businesses don't last is hardly true: Family Business magazine has counted several hundred family businesses that are more than two centuries old.

Some ten years ago, the oldest company on the planet was considered Japanese construction firm Kongo Gumi. She continues to work even now, but, alas, she has left the category of family ones.

The family business was founded by the carpenter Shigemitsu Kongo, who arrived in Osaka at the end of the 6th century with his family and numerous relatives from the Korean kingdom of Baekje. He built Shitennoji Temple in the ancient capital of Japan, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the country. Construction, which began in 578, dragged on for a decade and a half.

Kongo took root in Osaka and founded a company that is now more than 14 centuries old! Kongo Gumi specialized in the construction of religious buildings, and this specialization has been preserved by the Kongo people to this day. In 2004, for example, temples accounted for nearly 80% of the $67.6 million in revenue.

The Kongo family is first mentioned in one of Japan's oldest written records, the Nihon Seki, dating back to 720. For 1428 years, the company was led by 40 presidents. All of them bore the surname Kongo, although not all were native Kongo. When sons were transferred to the family, the firm was headed by sons-in-law. A prerequisite: they had to take the name of the founder of the business. Unlike most family companies, which automatically pass to the eldest son, the president of Kongo has always been, regardless of seniority, the most capable son or son-in-law.

Kongo carefully preserves history and traditions. The company's last president, Masakazu Kongo, claims that 90% of the carpentry techniques used by Shigemitsu are still in use today.

The three-meter scroll with a list of company executives has only one female name: Yoshi Kongo led the family business after the suicide of the 37th president.

After the Meiji Restoration, the authorities stopped funding the construction of temples. Financial position companies began to deteriorate. In the 20th century, Kongo had to build schools, nursing homes and other buildings and structures, and during the war even made coffins.

In 2004, Kongo's profits fell by more than a third - by 35% compared to 1998. Worker layoffs and austerity on everything, including stationery didn't help. The debts reached $343 million. By the beginning of 2006, the company could no longer service them. Ten years ago, Masakazu declared a firm that employed 100 people bankrupt. The company was bought by construction giant Takamatsu. Kongo retained the name but became a division of Takamatsu.

After the "death" of Kongo, the title of the oldest family company passed to another Japanese company - now the oldest is Hoshi Ryokan, which has been in the hotel business for almost 1300 years.

Hoshi owns a hotel in Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture. The date of her birth is considered to be 718. According to legend, the god of the sacred mountain Hakusan told the Buddhist priest Taiko in a dream to find an underground source of hot water with healing properties. The source was found at the specified location. Taiko ordered the carpenter Garyo Hoshi to build an inn near him, which later became the Hoshi Inn.

Photo: Sergey Vishnevsky, Kommersant

Ten years ago, the oldest company on the planet was considered the Japanese construction company Kongo Gumi, founded by Shigemitsu Kongo, who came to Osaka at the end of the 6th century and built Shitennoji Temple in the ancient capital of Japan.

About 450 guests can be accommodated in one hundred and a small rooms of "Hoshi". The owners of the hotel for 1298 years were 46 generations of the descendants of Garyo. It is now owned by Zengoro Hoshi.

Of course, there are representatives of the Old World in the list of family companies with a long history. Until recently, the oldest of them was the French company Chateau de Goulaine, whose main field of activity is still winemaking. The Goulins family owns a medieval castle, built around 1000, near Nantes, and extensive vineyards. The castle has a museum with a large collection of rare butterflies, weddings and other celebrations are often held.

This spring, the Gulens put the castle with vineyards up for sale. Therefore, the title of the oldest family company in Europe may soon pass to the Italian Fonderia Pontificia Marinelli, which specializes in casting church bells. The foundry has been located in the very center of the peninsula, in the town of Agnone, for a thousand years. Just like in Kongo, Marinelli's casters still use the technique of making molds from wax, which was invented by the founder of the company.

The company's bells ring in churches in New York, Beijing, Seoul, Jerusalem, European and South American cities. Marinelli is led by Pascale Marinelli. The company employs 20 people, a quarter of them bear the name Marinelli.

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Why family companies attractive

Family companies outperform their non-family competitors in terms of profitability, return on investment, revenue dynamics and EBITDA, according to The CS Family 1000 report. Credit Suisse experts explain this by the peculiarities in the approach to financial management. Representatives of the "dynastic" business pay more attention to the stability of the balance sheet and try not to resort once again to borrowing from external sources, financing the business at the expense of own funds, as a result, the ratio of net debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) in such companies is below average by 20%. As a result, they are less affected by interest rate fluctuations than non-family companies and more easily weather periods of market volatility.

Photo: Michele Limina / Bloomberg

In such companies, the board of directors makes decisions more quickly, especially if there is a representative of the founder's or owner's family among the members of the board. “Thanks to this, coordination between all shareholders is faster. And the faster, the more effective," says Bogdan Zvarich, Senior Analyst at Freedom Finance Investment Company. In the case of a large dispersion of shares among minority shareholders the process of agreeing on important issues may be delayed, and due to uncertainty, the value of the company's securities may decrease, the expert explains. However, this type of management may also have disadvantages - it may be deprived of objectivity in decision-making, warns investment analyst at Veles Capital Aleksey Adonin. In his opinion, the more independent directors on the board, the better it will be for the management of the company.

The human factor is also important. “A family company is effective when the owner attaches great importance to family traditions or continues them when it comes to the second and next generations,” says Anton Ionov, Ernst & Young partner and head of the CIS private client services group, who studies family business in Russia. The owner of a family company treats business not as a means of momentary receipt of money, but as a mission and work of his life and future generations, the expert notes.​

And what about in Russia?

Domestic portfolio managers believe that the conclusions of Swiss analysts on the global market should not be rushed to apply to Russian practice. “Family companies have been formed in the West for centuries, and our companies are not so long ago on the market so that we can work out and evaluate the impact of continuity and family traditions on financial results business. Yes, and most market economy a little over 20 years,” says Bogdan Zvarich.

According to Credit Suisse, the average age of family businesses in developed countries Europe is 80 years, in the USA - 61 years, in Latin America- 44 years, in Asia - 37 years, and in countries of Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa - 30 years.

Nevertheless, there are family companies in Russia. Analysts at Ernst & Young, together with the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), identified 12 enterprises in Russia, the controlling stake of which or the decisive vote in the board of directors belongs to one couple, and the shares of nine of them can be bought on the stock exchange. These 12 Russian companies were included in a study of 500 companies from around the world, where the family's share of ownership or the number of votes on the board of directors was more than 32% for public companies and 50% for non-public companies. From public family companies, Rusal, Sistema, Magnit, Dixy Group, Severstal, Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works (NLMK), Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), got into the E&Y rating, "Mechel", from non-public - "T Plus", "Stroygazmontazh", SUEK.

According to the authors of the rating, the share of shares owned by one family in these companies is 40-100%. All this belongs to the families of famous billionaires - Deripaska, Yevtushenkov, Galitsky, Lisin, Melnichenko, Mordashov, Rotenberg, Vekselberg, Zyuzin, Pumpyansky, Kesaev and Katsiev.

Most of the Russian family companies in the sample are from the metallurgy sector. From October 2007 to October 2017, the sectoral index of metals and mining of the Moscow Exchange grew by 68%, and it is rational to compare the dynamics of individual securities with it metallurgical companies. For ten years, the market value of NLMK and MMK shares has grown by 37%, Severstal - by 53%. Shares of TMK during this time decreased by 77%. Papers of Mechel and Rusal entered the market later than ten years ago, but their dynamics turned out to be several times worse than the dynamics of the sectoral index.

Dixy and Magnit represent the consumer sector. The corresponding industry index of the Moscow Exchange for ten years has risen by 2.2 times. During the same period, Dixy shares lost about 7% of their value. Shares of "Magnit" for the same time increased by 8.58 times.


Photo: Oleg Kharseev / Kommersant

Shares of AFK Sistema (which controls assets from various sectors of the economy) have fallen by 65% ​​in ten years. The MICEX index rose during this time by about 20%.

Thus, of the nine papers under consideration, the market as a whole (according to the MICEX index) was able to outperform the papers of only four companies, and only the shares of Magnit were able to outperform their sector (according to the sectoral indices of the Moscow Exchange).

To take or not to take

Russian experts believe that securities It is worth taking a closer look at such enterprises, but in no case make decisions about investing in them just because world statistics show an attractive return for an investor. In their opinion, it is worth paying attention to the personality of the owner himself, his plans to transfer the business to relatives, as well as the willingness of the latter to accept and competently conduct it. “All companies that could be attributed to this category are still at the helm of the founders, that is, the first generation. Therefore, it is not yet necessary to talk about continuity and its consequences, ”says Bogdan Zvarich.

But the current leaders are not going to pass the business on to the next generations. According to a survey of about 3 thousand owners and managers of family companies in the world, conducted in 2016 by PwC, in Russia only 9% of the surveyed businessmen plan to transfer their business to their children against 39% in the world, but in our country 39% against 17% plan to sell it in the world.

“We have not developed a tradition of handing over business as an inheritance. Money is more valued here and now than the fortune that children will have thanks to business,” says Anton Ionov. “More often there is a scheme that a businessman sells his shares to a partner, and he already gives the proceeds from them to his heirs,” says Viktor Markov, senior analyst at Zerich Capital Management. Therefore, global trends cannot be applied to the Russian market, which does not have much experience behind it.

To work for several or even a couple of decades, especially since studies have shown that even the most successful enterprises and firms find it difficult to overcome the half-century mark of independent existence. As a rule, the lion's share of them is abolished, broken up, ruined or sold, becoming part of larger business entities.

Therefore, a figure of 100 or more years seems completely unattainable, but, nevertheless, today there are many companies whose age is calculated for centuries! Sometimes such a phenomenon can be explained by the release of products of consistently high quality that are in demand at all times, but sometimes the reasons for longevity are simply incomprehensible.

1. Sotheby's

Sotheby's is known as one of the world's most prestigious auctions, but few people know that it began its long life as early as 1744 with a small sale of books by the Englishman Samuel Baker. That year, the entire Stanley library was sold there for £800 and a change, and since then Sotheby's has consistently acted as a reliable auction house, selling the most famous works of art, luxury goods and the rarest rarities at the highest prices.

Twinings is considered to be the oldest British tea brand, the birth of which dates back to 1706, when the first Twinings store was founded. For over 300 years, the company's headquarters have been located there, and the logo has not changed at all over all these centuries. Today this tea is one of the synonyms of Great Britain.

An astonishing longevity is shown by the oldest English ceramics company, maintaining premium quality since 1653, acquiring today a reputation as a truly royal brand. By the way, the company has received the official seal of approval of the Dutch monarchical dynasty.

Shirley Plantation is said to be the oldest family business in the agricultural sector throughout the United States, dating back to 1638, having experienced civil war and revolution, the Great Depression and other upheavals in the life of the country in its history. For almost four centuries of existence, the plantation was owned by 11 generations of the Shirley family.

Although Grolsh is far from the largest beer producer, the brand has earned a reputation as one of the best in the premium class.

Beer is sold in containers with special flip-top lids to preserve freshness. The company was founded in 1615 and before becoming subsidiary(which it still is) for about 250 years, Grolsch operated independently on the market.

If you have ever played drums or any other percussion instrument, then you are probably familiar with the Zildjian brand, which belongs to the cohort of the best drum cymbal manufacturers. Their products were used by all world stars: from the Beatles to the Rolling Stones.

The company was founded in Turkish Istanbul back in 1623, but only relatively recently moved to the United States, where it gained worldwide fame.

The roots of the most authoritative and second-oldest Italian company come from the island of Crete, which belonged to Venice in the 15th century, but the son of the founder had to move the business to the metropolis, due to the growing confrontation between the Venetians and the Ottomans in the Aegean Sea.

At that time, Chioggia, which became the new home of Camuffo, was considered the most important commercial port of the Adriatic.

Since 1438, the company has been building barges and fishing boats, pleasure yachts, merchant ships and transporters, successfully promoting the brand in the vast Adriatic, Black and Eastern Mediterranean Seas.

The durability and safety of Camuffo boats have become almost legendary and a household name in the marine environment, as evidenced by the saying: "Camuffo boats always return to port."

German journalists, having visited the company's shipyard in 1977, were greatly impressed and even compared these boats with Stradivari violins.

Fishermen today still pay homage to the company's products, but use mostly inflatable boat, made mainly of PVC, the variety of which is simply incredible, part of which can be found, for example, at http://vodnik.1000size.ru/naduvnye-lodki, but "Camuffo" is more likely to be considered exotic, retro and VIP class, than to watercraft for the mass consumer.

The oldest whiskey distillery in the world, Bushmills, still located in County Antrim in Northern Ireland, has been operating since 1608, when its founder and first owner, Thomas Philip, received permission to produce alcohol directly from King James the First. Over 400 years of activity, hundreds of brands of whiskey have been released, including their signature Irish Honey.

The oldest foundry for the manufacture of bells, the date of birth of which is considered to be 1570. Since then, they have created many bells commissioned by churches, famous people, governments and royal dynasties. Their products are used in Westminster Abbey, they also created the infamous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, which cracked from ringing.

10. Cambridge University Press

Pick up any British academic book or important scientific work and chances are it will be printed by Cambridge University Press. It is the oldest publishing house in the world and the second largest in the university environment after Oxford University Press. It was created in 1534, when Henry VIII granted the University of Cambridge a patent for printing.

11. "Beretta"

Anyone who is at least a little familiar with the world of weapons is familiar with the name "Beretta", which is the brand of one of the best manufacturers of small arms and in particular pistols, which are still widely used today in the army, police, security agencies and private individuals for self-defense.

This one dates back to 1526, when its founder, Bartolomeo Beretta from Italian Lombardy, completed his first order from the Venetian doge for the manufacture of 185 arquebus barrels, using quality iron from ore mined in the surrounding mountains.

Credit Suisse (CS) has done a lot of research on the family business. Its result was the ranking of the 900 largest family businesses. The list includes companies whose shares are traded on financial markets and whose capitalization exceeds $1 billion. You can also find companies in which at least 20% of the shares are owned by families.

“In more developed markets, we see more fragmented ownership,” the authors of the CS study emphasize. “Most families sell their shares over time. According to oft-cited statistics from the Family Business Institute, only a third of family businesses go to the second generation of the founding family, 12% to the third, and only 3% to the fourth.”

Some of the companies on the list are controlled by families of more than one generation. Another hallmark of a family business is family problems. The most common phenomenon is civil strife between relatives, which newspapermen describe with pleasure. The list of sins is very long: from giving bribes the right people before collaborating with Hitler.

Below is a list of the 15 CS families that own the largest businesses in the world.

15. Gou Family

Company - Foxconn

Industry - information technology

Country - Taiwan

Market capitalization - $49 billion

Foxconn's official name is Hon Hai Precision. The company produces electronic parts and components for such giants as Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, etc. The company was founded by Terry Gou. In 2012, a scandal erupted. The New York Times investigated and concluded that workers at Foxconn factories work in appalling conditions and that they have a high suicide rate.

14. Kwoki family

Company - Sun Hung Kai Properties

Industry - finance

Country - Hong Kong

Market capitalization - 49 billion dollars

The Kwoki brothers are billionaires thanks to construction company created by their late father Kwok Tak Seng. The Kwok family has been involved in a lot of scandals lately. Walter Kwok left the family company last year after a major row with brothers Thomas and Raymond. Later that year, Thomas also resigned as a result of a corruption scandal. He was found guilty of bribing Hong Kong officials. Now the post of chairman of the board of the company is occupied by Raymond. His sons Edward and Adam work in the family firm and hold high positions. The main shareholder is Siu Hing Kwok, mother of Walter, Thomas and Raymond. She reconciled the brothers and in 2008-11 headed the board of the company.

13. McKessons

Company – McKesson

Country: USA

Market capitalization - $55 billion

The company was founded by John McKesson and Charles Olcott in 1833. Today it is one of the largest American companies, a leader in the production and trade of drugs and medical preparations, as well as in the field of high technologies in healthcare. The descendants of the McKessons still own a significant share of the company's shares.

Company - Soft Bank

Industry – telecommunications

Country - Japan

Market capitalization - $72 billion

The founder of the company, Masayoshi Son, is considered the second richest person in Japan thanks to the huge telecommunications company he created in 1981. In addition to its cell phone, internet and e-commerce businesses, SoftBank owns 80% of Sprint and 32% of Alibaba. It is said that Son is about to retire and is preparing a successor for himself.

11. Tata Family

Company - Tata Consultancy Services

Country - India

Market capitalization - 80 billion dollars

Just like most other Tata Group subsidiaries, Tata Consultancy Services is controlled and operated by Tata Sons. Their website says ok. The holding company is 66% owned by charitable foundations controlled by the Tata family. The company was established in 1868 by Jamsetji Tata.

Company - Nike

Durable

Country: USA

Market capitalization - 88.2 billion dollars

Phil Knight has been the face of the iconic Nike brand since he founded the company in 1964. In June of this year, Knight announced that in 2016 he was handing over the chairmanship of the board to his son Travis.

9. Kinders

Company - Kinder Morgan

Industry - energy

Country: USA

Market capitalization - $90 billion

After leaving Enron, Richard Kinder founded Kinder Morgan with partners in 1997. Kinder Morgan is the fourth energy company USA. Kinder and his wife Nancy are Houston's top philanthropists. They lead charitable foundation Kinder Foundation.

8. Pihey Porsche

Company – Volkswagen

Industry - consumer durables

Country: Germany

Market capitalization - $120 billion

Many members of the Pikhov-Porsche clan own a major stake in Volkswagen through the holding company Porsche Automobile Holding. Their ancestor Ferdinand Porsche founded the Porsche company and was a member of the Nazi Party. Volkswagen built the first car for Adolf Hitler. Now at least five representatives of the family sit on the board of Volkswagen. Volkswagen owns well-known brands such as Porsche, Audi and Bentley.

7. Lee family

Company - Samsung Electronics

Industry - information technology

Country - South Korea

Market capitalization - $174 billion

Lee Kun-hee helped his father turn his father's Samsung Group into a transnational giant. He chairs the board of the group's parent company, Samsung Electronics, while his son and intended successor, Jay Lee, is vice chairman. Daughters: Bu-jin and Seo-hyun also hold high positions in the firm. In 2014, the court refused to hear a lawsuit filed by Lee Kun-hee's children who claimed he stole shares from them.

6. Allisons

Company - Oracle

Industry - information technology

Country: USA

Market capitalization - $192 billion

Larry Ellison is still the chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle, which made him America's third-richest person. Allison resigned last September. executive director companies. Despite the fact that his children, Megan and David, own substantial stakes in the company, it is unlikely that they will succeed him. The Allison Jr. are film producers.

5. Lehmanns, Sikupirs and Telles

Company - Anheuser-Busch InBev

Industry - consumer goods

Country - Belgium

Market capitalization - $197 billion

3G Capital was behind the 2008 merger that created Anheuser-Busch InBev. Now 3G General Manager Jorge Paulo Lehmann is the richest man in Brazil. He is the main shareholder of the brewing company.

His partners, Carlos Sicupira and Marcel German Telles, also own large stakes in the company. Together they own approximately 26% of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Lehmann and Telles are on the board of directors.

4. Zuckerbergs

Company – Facebook

Industry - information technology

Country: USA

Market capitalization - $225 billion

Mark Zuckerberg brought relatives into the Facebook empire. His older sister Randy worked in the marketing department before she opened own company. In gratitude for the money his father had lent him early on in the company's development, Mark gave him 2 million shares.

3. The Waltons

Company: Walmart

Industry - consumer goods

Country: USA

Market capitalization - 241 billion dollars

The Walton family owns half of the empire through a holding company, Walton Enterprises, according to Thomson Reuters. 50% of the shares is enough for five relatives to be among the richest people on the planet. Brothers Rob and Jim serve on the company's board of directors, along with sister Alice and daughter-in-law Christie. The fortune of all four is estimated at around 35 billion dollars. Cousins ​​Ann Walton Kroenke and Nancy Walton are also billionaires thanks to large stakes in the company. In June, Rob Walton was replaced as Walmart chairman by son-in-law Gregory Penner.

2. Hoffman-Oeri

Company – Roche

Industry – health care, drug production

Country- Switzerland

Market capitalization - $254 billion

Fritz Hoffman and his wife founded a cough syrup company that today produces the best cancer drugs. His heirs still own at least half of the company's shares, according to Bloomberg. There are at least 8 billionaires in the Hoffman-Oeri family, including Andreas Oeri and Andre Hoffman, who sit on the company's board of directors.

1. Sandoz

Company - Novartis

Industry – health care, drug production

Country - Switzerland

Market capitalization - $279 billion

Novartis is one of the largest drug manufacturers. The company originated in 1996 as a result of the merger between Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. Now the descendants of Edward Sandoz, who founded the company in 1886, own a large stake in Novartis. The Sandoz Family Foundation is the company's largest shareholder, and its president, Pierre Landolt, is on the Novartis board of directors.

 

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