The Mars Family

                                   

Frank C. Mars began making chocolates in his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington state, in 1911. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now the world’s largest confectionery company, Mars achieves a turnover of about $27.5 billion a year. Its leading brands include the Milky Way bar, invented by Frank’s wife Ethel in 1923, M&Ms (more than 400 million are produced in the firm’s American plants every day) and Snickers, said to have been named after a favourite family horse.

Mars is also a leading manufacturer of pet food, with Pedigree and Whiskas among its pet-care brands. An intensely private company, Mars is owned by the third generation of the family, siblings Forrest, 79, John, 74, and Jacqueline Mars, 71. The company briefly hit the headlines in 2008 by making a joint purchase of Wrigley, the chewing gum company, with Warren Buffet (qv) for $23 billion. With other assets, the Mars family is worth about $80 billion in 2015 according to Forbes.