The ranking is topped by the US retail chain Wall-Mart, followed by the German car maker Volkswagen and the US concern Berkshire Hathaway. The top five also include the Italian investment firm EXOR and the US automobile giant Ford.
The Centre for Family Business defines a family business as a privately held firm where a family controls more than 50 per cent of the voting rights or as a publicly listed firm which is classified as a family firm because a family holds at least 32 per cent of the voting rights.
Cumulatively, the revenues of the world's 500 largest family businesses accounted for USD 6.5 trillion of the global GDP in 2013, or more than the French and Germany economies combined. That year those companies had 20.9 million employees.
Agrokor is the only company from the region included in the index. According to the Centre for Family Business, Agrokor was established in 1976, had 35,652 employees in 2013 and an annual revenue of USD 5.1 billion. The Todoric family holds a 92% stake in it.