Methodology

The EY organization and University of St.Gallen have published the EY and St.Gallen Global 500 Family Business Index (the Index) every two years since 2015. It includes the 500 largest family-controlled businesses based on revenues. The criteria for inclusion are as follows:

1. Revenues of qualified businesses are sourced from published accounts or disclosed financial information that are no more than 24 months old.
2. Qualified businesses have substantial family voting control in the business. Businesses where the family is believed to have voting rights of 50% or more are eligible. For publicly listed businesses, family voting control of at least 32% is considered as substantial for inclusion¹.
3. Qualified businesses have trans-generational profiles in that they have a demonstrated involvement of multiple generations and/or are at least 50 years old.
4. Where two or more businesses are controlled by the same family group, the parent, holding company or business with the highest disclosed revenues is featured. As a result, the Index is limited to one business per family group.
5. The Index reflects our best efforts and practical judgements in discovering and interpreting information available about the world’s leading family businesses and the families that control them.

¹ The 32% threshold is influenced by the observation that this level of voting control is generally sufficient to have significant influence if not practical control at the general assembly of a publicly listed company.  Many academics use a lower threshold of 25% or 20% for deemed voting control. This Index has opted to be more conservative by setting a higher threshold of 32% voting control for inclusion.