A free market? Fifteen families control businesses which provide them with NIS 114 billion of profits a years.

The 15 families earn around 12 percent of the total turnover of the Israeli business sector, according to a poll conducted by the business information group BDI.

The families rule over the market via companies they own, which themselves control hundreds of companies.

The poll also found that the fifteen families indirectly employ, through their companies, eight percent of employees in the Israeli business market, a total of over 100,000 workers.

According to the poll, 500 companies control the Israeli business sector. The companies’ combined profits totals NIS 570 billion annually, a figure which makes up 59 percent of the market’s revenue.

The 500 companies employ up to 560,000 people, meaning that they make up 40 percent of employers in the sector.

The company holding the number one spot among the top 500 companies is Teva, who’s annual sales figure is NIS 21.4 billion. The second place is held by the Electric Company, which sees NIS 14.6 billion a year, while in third place is Bank Hapoalom.

The poll also showed that the 15 influential families take over 20 percent of the earnings of the leading 500 companies.

In addition to the 15 families, foreign investors take around 9 percent of the income of the leading 500 companies, NIS 51.3 billion. Foreign companies employ 84,000 Israeli workers.

The state, according to the poll, holds only a 3 percent stage in the largest 500 companies.

The poll also found that 57 percent of the top 500 are private companies, and that the stocks of only 40 percent of the companies are traded on the stock market.