Wal-Mart, a global leading retailer, topped a list of the world's top 500 largest family-owned companies by revenue. It is followed by Volkswagen AG and Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. .

The Global Family Business Index, compiled by the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, provides evidence of the economic power and relevance of family firms throughout the world.

Companies on the top 500 list raked in an aggregate US$6.53 trillion in annual sales, far more than the GDP of Japan, the world's third-largest economy. They also employ around 21 million people, or about 42,000 people per company on average.

Chinese family-owned businesses filled 27 slots in the top 500 list, including five companies from the Chinese mainland, 15 from Hong Kong and seven from Taiwan. Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa, which ranked 35th on the overall list, is the best performing Chinese family business.

The study defined family businesses as private firms with greater than 50 percent family ownership of board voting rights or public firms with at least 32 percent family ownership of board voting rights.

Following are the top ten largest family-owned businesses on the list:

 

Groupe Auchan [File photo]

Year founded: 1961

Public or private: private

Revenue in USD in 2013 or last available year: 85.5 billion

Employees: 302,500

Country: France

Family: Mulliez family

Share (Family voting rights, share in percent): 87.8