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America’s Most Valuable Private Family Businesses 2026

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14.05.2026

On Wednesday, Forbes published its inaugural list of America’s Largest Family Businesses by revenue. But sales are hardly the only way to measure the magnitude of a business. That’s why for the first time ever, we’ve valued the nation’s top private family firms. Most aren’t flashy, preferring to remain low key. Despite their reticence, three of them are worth more than $100 billion, by our estimates, making them more valuable than all but a handful of the hottest tech unicorns like SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic.

The 25 private family businesses on Forbes’ latest ranking are behind the cars we rent (Enterprise Mobility), grocery stores where we shop (Publix), and tools we use for home improvement projects (Harbor Freight). They make some of the most popular brands in product categories like candy (Milky Way bars), concrete (Quikrete) and paper cups (Dixie). And they’re based all over the country, in 16 different states, stretching from Delaware to Illinois to Idaho.

Occupying the number one spot is $185 billion (estimated valuation) Koch Inc., the Wichita, Kansas-based conglomerate formerly known as Koch Industries, which is 84% owned by the families of 90-year-old chairman and co-CEO Charles Koch and Julia Koch, the widow of Charles’ brother David (d. 2019). The oldest of the top 25 is food and agriculture giant Cargill, which was founded by William Wallace Cargill in 1865.

Defining what counts as a family business can be tricky, so Forbes consulted with five experts in the field to come up with our methodology, which takes into account factors like family ownership and executive and board roles. We also published our first ever ranking of America’s Top 25 Most Valuable Public Family Businesses on Thursday. No companies run only by first generation founders were included on either list.

Here are the top 25 most valuable private family businesses:

Valuation: $185 billion

Headquarters: Wichita, KS

Fred Koch started what would become Koch, Inc., in 1940 after developing a new way to refine oil. Son Charles took over when Fred died in 1967 and expanded into industries including chemicals, pulp and paper, pipelines and software. Charles and his brother David’s (d. 2019) widow, Julia Koch, each have a 42% voting stake in the $125 billion (revenue) firm, which makes Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper and Dixie cups.

Valuation: $121 billion

Headquarters: McLean, VA

Mars dates back to 1911, when its founder Frank Mars started making and selling candy out of his kitchen. Over the past 115 years, the creator of M&Ms and Milky Way bars has diversified into petcare (Whiskas) and food (Ben’s Original). Mars acquired competitor Kellanova, split off from Kellogg, late last year in a deal valued at $36 billion, adding snack foods like Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, RxBar. The Mars family owns 100% of the company.

3. Fidelity Investment

Valuation: $107 billion

Headquarters: Boston, MA

Abigail Johnson is the third generation of her family to run Fidelity Investments, one of the largest mutual fund firms in the world, with $7.1 trillion in assets under management. An industry leader, Fidelity was the first company to let customers buy mutual funds over the phone in 1974, and it was one of the first traditional financial institutions to launch a cryptocurrency platform in 2018. Founded by Edward C. Johnson II (d. 1984) in 1946, Fidelity is still 49% owned by the Johnson family; employees own the other 51%.

Valuation: $63.1 billion

Headquarters: Lakeland, FL

George Jenkins (d.1996) opened the first Publix Super Market in Winter Haven, Florida in 1940. The company, which Jenkins’ grandson Ed Crenshaw chaired until 2019, now operates more than 1,400 locations across eight Southern states. Forbes estimates that the Jenkins family still owns........

© Forbes