John Mars
Source of wealth: Candy, pet food
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Biography
John Mars and his siblings Jacqueline and Forrest Jr. (d. 2016) inherited stakes in the candy firm Mars when their father died in 1999.
He and Jacqueline each own an estimated one-third of the company. His late brother Forrest Jr.'s four daughters are believed to own the rest.
The $65 billion (sales) business was founded by John's grandfather, Frank, in 1911.
Mars acquired snack company Kellavova in December 2025 for $35.9 billion including debt.
Perspective on their fortune
Gold
Everyday luxury
A John Mars's fortune is equivalent to 314 of gold, but this may be difficult to value, as we don't usually have a handful of gold bars in our piggy bank.
A standard gold ring typically weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18k gold.
Based on today's gold price (not taking into account the jeweler's fee, shipping, or anything else), that gold ring would be worth $556.3
John Mars could buy 83,765,573 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and a lot of gifts!!
And if the number of rings is difficult to visualize, all these rings would need 15 trucks to transport them, But we can be almost certain that John Mars will have enough left over to pay for the gas for those trucks.
Health
The price of life
Let's compare John Mars's fortune with the healthcare spending of a huge country
John Mars could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo with a population of over 105,800,000 of inhabitants for approximately 21.0 years.
But even if we compare their fortune to that of a rich country
At the other extreme, John Mars could cover the health expenditure of Luxembourg, considered the world's most heavily invested health system, for 9.3 years
Education
Buying the future
Lowest education spending
John Mars could assume the entire cost of the education system of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with more than 243,000,000 inhabitants for 13.7 years.
Highest education spending
But not only could he assume the cost of a poor country, Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, John Mars could pay for it in full for 18.6 years.
Research
The monopoly of progress
Lowest research spending
John Mars could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with more than 260,000,000 of inhabitants, for 78.4 years.
Highest research spending
But even if we compare the total wealth of John Mars with Israel, the country that currently invests the most per capita in research in the world, it could assume the total cost of the system for 1.8 years.
Financial Assets
Financial assets information not available.
Monthly wealth history
Fortune comparison
Historical data not available for comparison