Family Fortunes
It’s been said many times that you should never mix family with business, but for some it has proven to be extremely profitable. It’s no coincidence that this month we share our annual list of Arab billionaires alongside our annual list of the Middle East’s Top Arab Family Businesses. Family-run companies are among the wealthiest in the world. The top five richest families on Forbes’ 2021 list of the world’s billionaires have a combined net worth of $422.8 billion. And among the 21 Arab billionaires this year, there are five families listed with a combined net worth of $16.6 billion. This isn’t counting the three Mansour brothers, who are listed separately as individual billionaires but are all chairpersons for their Mansour Group family business—they’re worth $5.1 billion combined.
When it goes right it can go very well, but when it goes wrong it can be a disaster. Some of the richest families in the U.S. have found themselves tied up in legal battles for decades as siblings and children fight over money and control, but mostly money. This includes the Koch family of Koch Industries, which saw four brothers face each other in court for 18 years because Bill and Frederick thought Charles and David had paid them too little for their shares. Today Charles, and David’s widow Julia and family, are worth $46.4 billion each. And the Shoen family of U-Haul were tied up in legal tape for 25 years as brothers Joe and Mark wrestled control from their father and elder sibling. Today they are worth $3.5 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively.
In the Middle East we are unaware of such dramas, but if problems are going to occur it seems they mostly arise with the next generation, once the founders have handed down their mantle to multiple siblings that then battle out their rivalries. Aware of this, many family business founders that are still heading their conglomerates now recognize succession planning as being a vital element to continuing a hard-earned heritage. Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, Arab billionaire and founder of Al Faisal Holding, has gone so far as to create a family board charter and multiple councils to ensure that his legacy is managed peacefully among his 10 children— you can find out more about him and his approach in this issue. We also feature Areej Mohsin Darwish, who together with her sister Lujaina runs diversified family firm, Mohsin Haider Darwish, which was handed down to them by their father. They each took turns chairing the group before dividing responsibilities this year.
Ultimately the keys to harmony in a family business seem to be much the same as any other large company, or indeed any large family: good communication, organization, and empathy. If you can get these right, play fair, and keep competition under control, it may not be such a bad mix after all.