The Marshall Family – $12B
It was when Howard Marshall II successfully traded his shares in the Great Northern Oil Company for an invaluable fifteen percent stake (within the previously-mentioned Koch Industries) that he established himself as the head of the Marshal family kingdom. In a questionable move, the Marshall patriarch controversially decided to bestow his shares to only one of two sons, Howard II, who would ironically go on to land his family in much legal trouble. His more publicly recognized moments include his marriage to the ex-Playboy star, Anna Nicole Smith, who was at the time young enough to be his granddaughter. Despite the glaring age gap, Smith ended up featuring prominently in the late Howard’s will, a situation which led the rest of the Marshalls to sue Smith towards regaining their inheritance.
The Marshall Family
The Getty Family – $5B
Searching for the core of the Getty family fortunes will lead you to the petroleum industry, their founding leaders being George Franklin and his son Jean-Paul. Dropping his profession as a lawyer, George Franklin switched to being an oil magnate, eventually leaving his company’s successes to his son Jean, adamant that he should focus on oil and gas. Luckily, Jean listened to his father, and together in 1916, they established Getty Oil, the massive oil kingdom now making its way down the family while having its net worth boosted.
The Getty Family
