The Hermès Family — $150 Billion

Thierry Hermès started as a harness maker in 1837. Six generations later, the family controls Hermès International — worth $250+ billion in market cap, with the family holding roughly 65%. The Birkin bag has a waitlist of years and resells for 3-5x retail ($10,000-500,000+). Hermès refuses to discount anything, ever. They don't do sales. They don't do collaborations. They barely do advertising. The scarcity IS the strategy. The family has resisted multiple hostile takeover attempts from LVMH — Bernard Arnault secretly bought 23% of Hermès shares in 2010 and was forced to sell after family members formed a holding company. Old money fights differently.