The Walton Family

The richest family in the country built its fortune on an unshakable foundation: "The Lowest Prices Anytime, Anywhere." Sam Walton and his brother Bud opened his first store in 1945 in Newport, Arkansas, but what eventually became Walmart didn't start to take shape until 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. The Waltons brought the one-stop shopping center to prominence. After the success of that business model for Walmart, the brothers founded Sam's Club in 1983 for discount shopping in bulk. Four members of the Walton family — Christy, Jim, Alice, and S. Robson Walton — are collectively worth $149 billion, and take up four of the Top 10 spots on Forbes' list of richest Americans. Last year, Walmart's profit was estimated at $480 billion.

The Koch Family

Headed up by CEO Charles Koch and his brother, Executive Vice President David Koch, the multi-faceted Koch Industries is the second-largest private company in America. The Kochs (pronounced like "Coke") are some of the most powerful — and most affluent — people in the world, thanks in part to the boost they had from their entrepreneurial ancestors. The family business was started by Fred Koch, who launched his career at the Texas Company in Port Arthur, Tex., working his way up until he co-founded what became the Rock Island Oil & Refining Company in the mid-20th century. The company was rechristened Koch Industries after his memory. His sons,Charles and David, are the faces of Koch Industries today and are also among the ten richest people in the US.

The Mars family

The eponymous chocolate bar of Mars Incorporated is named, perhaps not surprisingly, after the company that makes it. That company is in turn named for it's founder: Franklin Clarence Mars. Mars Inc. was founded in 1911, in Minneapolis, though its first mass-produced chocolate bar was actually the Milky Way, which was launched in 1923. It wasn't until the UK subsidiary opened in Slough in 1932 that the company began producing the first Mars Bars as a localized version of the Milky Way (which, in the US, contains chocolate, nougat and caramel).

The Cargill-MacMillan family

There are more billionaires in the Cargill-MacMillan clan - 14 of them -than in any other family in the world, by Forbes' reckoning. Along with several other cousins, they own 88% of Cargill Inc., one of America's largest private companies.The $108 billion (revenues) agribusiness giant sells food, processes crops, trades commodities, sources ingredients and provides financial risk management. It all started with W.W. Cargill, the son of a Scottish sea captain, who founded the company as a small grain storage business in 1865 at the close of the American Civil War. He got rich as railroads expanded westward at the end of the century, turning the Great Plains into America's bread basket. The fortune of the heirs of the Cargill dynasty is equal to $45 billion.

The Cox family

The Cox family has shifted in focus over the decades-from newspaper publishing at its start to cable TV and automotive technology now. The clan's fortune dates to 1898, when James M. Cox purchased the Dayton Evening News. The company subsequently expanded to TV, radio and more: Cox Enterprises includes Cox Communications (cable TV, broadband) and Cox Media Group (newspapers, TV, radio stations), and automotive assets. In October 2015, it completed its $4 billion acquisition of DealerTrack, a maker of software for car dealerships. Through Cox Enterprises, the family already owns AutoTrader.com, Kelley Blue Book and Manheim car auctions. The fortune is divided among James Cox's five grandchildren.The main owner of the holding is Anne Cox Chambers (pictured), the daughter of the business empire founder.

The Hearst Family

The Hearst family empire was built on 1887 when founder William Randolph Hearst started the mass media empire with the acquisition of the San Francisco Daily Examiner. The family's main source of wealth is the publishing conglomerate Hearst Corporation, which is headquartered in New York. With 66 family members to date, the Hearst family's current net worth is $32 billion. The family currently owns 49 newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle, Times Union, Houston Chronicle, Connecticut Post, and more. They also own around 340 magazines including Elle, Harper's Bazaar, The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Seventeen, Esquire, and more. The Hearst family also have television and cable investments including a 50% stake at A&E Networks, which handles History Channel, Lifetime, Crime and Investigation Network, and more. They also own 20% of ESPN Inc. The family has also invested in online media outlets such as BuzzFeed and Vice.