You’ve most likely heard about the Rothschild Family, Rothschild Bank, or the Rothschild Foundation. Or, you might have known about any other company or establishment with the ‘Rothschild’ prefix and you wondered what that means. Well, it refers principally to a Jewish-German family lineage noted for their Europe-wide eponymous business empire. Although generations after generations of the family have become almost synonymous with the banking industry in particular (especially since the 18th century), they have also been involved in a wide range of sectors including energy, real estate, mining, agriculture, and more.
The Rothschild family is one of the wealthiest in the world. They possessed the largest private fortune in the world during the 19th century, as well as in the entire modern world history. Here is an opportunity you have to know about the wealthy family and possibly learn one or two things to help you in creating wealth for yourself and your posterity.
How The Rothschild Family Became Rich
The original patriarch of the empire, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744 – 1812) was a Jewish banker who handled the finances of and lent money to European royalty and nobility (known in those days as a court Jew or a court factor). He was born in the Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt am Maine and lost both parents to an epidemic when he was only 12. This forced him to take up a job as an apprentice with a local bank. Coupled with the fact that his father was also in the finance business (he was a trader in coins and commodities), Amschel learned the business quickly – which is how he became a court Jew.
Through his services to the creme of the society, Amschel Rothschild gained social privileges which also held economic opportunities that he took advantage of to build a flourishing banking business.
Unlike many court Jews of those days who also enjoyed the same privileges as he did, Amschel Rothschild was not only able to bequeath his wealth to his children but he also succeeded in getting them to take over from where he would eventually stop. He had ten children – five sons and five daughters. Thus, when his sons reached adulthood, he stationed them in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy to manage local banking affairs. From there, a multi-country and multi-century financial empire began and flourished.
With Mayer Rothschild’s children spread across Europe, the Rothschilds became the first bank to transcend borders. Lending to governments to finance war operations for several centuries provided ample opportunity to accumulate bonds and shore up additional wealth in a range of different industries. Today, the banking business is scattered all over Europe with several branches found in major cities throughout the continent.
The family also owns more than a dozen wineries in North America, South America, South Africa and Australia. Most family members are employed by these corporations directly or invested in operations that generate family wealth. The remarkable success of the family has largely been due to a strong interest in cooperation, being entrepreneurs and the practice of smart business principles.
Nathan Mayer Rothschild (the 3rd among Amschei’s 5 sons) was the one who took up the British branch of the business, founding N. M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd. Being the most successful of the 5, his fortune was intimately tied to the other fortunes of the family and became part of the collective wealth each Rothschild passed to the next generation. Rothschild descendants continue to finance global business operations and contribute to scholarly, humanitarian and business endeavors.
How Rich Is The Rothschild Family Empire Today?
The Rothschild family wealth has never been on a public display as they have always kept a low profile in spite of their status. As a result, the Rothschilds have captured the imagination of financial historians and conspiracy theorists alike. It is difficult to track and verify their various holdings among so many descendants, but they are still fabulously wealthy. With James Rothschild marrying Nicky Hilton in 2015, the family is sure to continue with their heir at the helm.
According to Investopedia, Rothschild family are worth $2 trillion in assets and holdings. Their holdings span a number of diverse industries, including financial services, real estate, mining, energy, and even charity.
There are a few Rothschild-owned financial institutions still operating in Europe, including N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd in the United Kingdom, and Edmond de Rothschild Group in Switzerland. The Annual revenue for Rothschild & Co. in the 2016 fiscal year was €1,589 million.
Over the last few centuries, the Rothschild family wealth has been divided among hundreds of their descendants. But, taken together, the family’s fortune is reported to be very great. With their business concern focusing mainly on the banking sector, they also encompass several other fields like real estate, wine, art and charity that has been building their fortune from one generation to another.
Although the family’s wealth has certainly declined with time, we still have Rothschilds in favorable mention wherever wealth is at issue – just like the Rockefeller family in America.
Here Are Notable Living Members of The Wealthy Family Lineage and Their Net Worth
We should be into the 11th generation of the Rothschild family at the time of posting this. So, a comprehensive list of all the living Rothschild with a name is certainly beyond the scope of this article. So, here is a list of some of the living members of the family lineage and how much they are worth:
Sir Evelyn de Rothschild – $20 billion
Sir Evelyn de Rothschild is a descendant of the British arm of the Rothschild Empire. As a progeny of Nathan Mayer Rothschild and a banker of note, he was the chairman of N. M. Rothschild and Sons Ltd for years before he retired. He also founded a Holding Company of his own E. L. Rothschild based in the United Kingdom. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Sir Evelyn Rothschild is worth $20 billion as of 2020.
David Mayer de Rothschild – $10 billion
Born in 1978 David Rothschild is among the youngest notable members of the Rothschild Empire. He is an ecologist by profession as well as a best-selling author and the owner of a marketing agency.
David’s 2007 book The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook sold millions of copies. His non-profit organization Sculp the Future has contributed to him getting named as a ‘climate hero’Â by the United Nations environment program.
Jeff Rothschild – $2.7 billionÂ
In the 2020 Forbes Billionaires list, a Rothschild descendant – Jeff Rothschild – made it to the top 1000. With his net worth as $2.7 billion, Jeff precisely ranked #875 on the list. A board member of Pure Storage, a data storage company based in Mountain View California, Jeff ranked #296 in Forbes 400 list the previous year. He once co-founded a software company known as Veritas Software which was sold to Symantec for $13.5 billion in 2004.
Surprisingly, it was not an inheritance from his family wealth that made Jeff as wealthy as he is. Instead, according to Forbes, it was at Facebook that he made the bulk of his fortune. He started working at Facebook in 2005 as the Vice President of Infrastructure Engineering. From 2010, he took up the role of an advisor at Facebook and finally left the company five years later.
Benjamin de Rothschild – $1.3 billion
His name is Benjamin de Rothschild. With a net worth of $1.3 billion, he got ranked #1851 on the list. Benjamin who descends from the French branch of the Rothschild empire is the president of Edmond de Rothschild (EdR) group of companies. He is reported to own real estate concerns in Europe, South America, and Africa.
Aged 56, Benjamin de Rothschild is married to Ariane who oversees the Edmond de Rothschild stakes in Switzerland. The couple is blessed with 4 adorable kids who are being prepared to take over these estates.
Jacob Rothschild – $1 billion
Jacob Rothschild has proved that the wealth in the Rothschild family lineage might have some genetic background after all. Over four decades ago, he broke away from his family’s wealth by refusing to inherit from it due to a family quarrel. Yet he ended up been exceedingly rich. He is the founder of RIT Capital Partners (formerly Rothschild Investment Trust). As he was retiring from RIT in 2019, he was worth $1 billion according to the 2019 Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is a descendant of Nathan Rothschild.
Anthony James de Rothschild – $3 million
Born in 1977, Anthony is yet another younger member of the Rothschild family. He is a businessman as well as the son of Sir Evelyn Rothschild. His investment portfolio includes equity funds, real estate, oil and gas, banking, and textile.
There Are Countless Other Rothschilds Still Manifesting The Family’s Wealth Gene
There may be just a few members of the Rothschild empire in the most recent Forbes billionaires list, but there are many of them doing well for themselves across Europe and beyond. Therefore, it is not uncommon to find the Rothschild name on very high-brow real estate scattered around the continent.
And it has always been so. The Rothschild family was the first to get addressed with regards to the British victory against Napoleon and their bonds with the British government saw a great rise in their property. They control a huge part of the world’s business and have been rumored to have deep connections in encouraging international wars to favor their business and trade. The Rothschild banking empire was said to have also benefited tremendously from the French Revolution.
During the war, the Austrian army was said to have contracted Rothschild to supply it with a range of items, including wheat, uniforms, horses, and equipment. Monetary transactions were also facilitated for Hessian mercenary soldiers.
Around that time, Rothschild sent his five sons to live in the business capitals of various European countries of those days – London, Frankfurt, Naples, Vienna, and Paris. His goal was to have each of his children establish a banking business in those cities, and throughout the 1800s, he did achieve that.
The banking conglomerate has been one of the largest and most successful fortunes in modern history and coming from the bullion trade, the family has coordinated to develop a huge network through gold transportation in early years. The same provided them with several political and financial details, which always kept them ahead of their competitors.
