The family was headed by Tiang Chirathivat (simplified Chinese: 郑心平; traditional Chinese: 鄭心平; pinyin: Zhèng Xīnpíng; 1905–1968), who migrated to Siam from Hainan and settled in Bangkok in 1927.
[2] His descendants jointly own and manage the Central Group, and are ranked third on Forbes' list of Thailand's fifty richest.
[2] The Chirathivat family bought the upscale Italian department store chain, La Rinascente, for a reputed US$291 million.
The purchase was announced in May 2011 by Tos Chirathivat, a Central Group executive.
[4] In 2020, the Central Group announced the purchase of the Swiss luxury department store Globus alongside other assets for more than US$1 billion in a joint venture with the Austrian Signa, which announced insolvency in November 2023.