I am a fan of private companies and
believe that government corruptly colluded to destroy them beginning in 1913. I
am a big fan of private property ownership and trust private company founders
to do the right things. Public companies
are owned by too many investors and there is no accountability to the
customers.
The Biggest
Private Companies In the US, by worldatlas 2016.
Private companies are
either owned by individuals or relatively small number of shareholders. The
stock or shares of private businesses are not traded to the public but are
offered, owned, or traded privately.
Private companies
contribute significantly to the economy of a country. In the US, private
companies accounted for over 2.5 trillion in revenues and employed over 6
million people in 2016. The US is home to some of the largest privately owned
companies which sold goods and services worth trillions of dollars in 2016. The
biggest private companies in the US by revenue include:
Cargill is a
Minnesota-based company which was founded by William Wallace Cargill at the end
of the American civil war. It is the privately held corporation in the US
regarding revenue. Cargill declared a revenue of $120.4 billion in 2016
financial year. The company developed from a grain storage facility into a
multinational trading, purchasing, trading, and distributors of agricultural
commodities such as sugar, oil, turkey, and chocolate. It also provides
services such as financial management, transportation, and production of food
ingredients. Cargill is a family owned business with 90% of the company owned
by the descendants of the founder William Cargill and his son-in-law John
MacMillan.
Koch Industries is a
multinational corporation which specializes in a variety of industries
including refining, chemicals, biofuel, and ingredients such as forests and
consumer products. The company is based in Wichita, Kansas with its
subsidiaries involved in trading, investments, chemical technology equipment,
and manufacturing. Koch Industries is one of the privately owned companies in
the US according to the Forbes 2016 list. The company recorded revenue of $100
billion. The company was co-founded in 1940 by Fred C Koch. Koch Industries is
currently owned by brothers Charles and David Koch who each own 42% of the enterprise.
Albertsons is a chain of
grocery stores headquartered in Boise, Idaho. The company is owned and operated
by Cerberus Capital Management. Albertsons is one of the largest supermarket
chains in North America owning over 2,000 stores which hires over 250,000
employees. Its divisions and subsidiaries operate stores under the umbrella
Albertsons, Bristol Farms, Max Food, Star Market, and Grocery Warehouse.
Albertsons was founded in 1939 by Joe Albertson and became a public company in
1959. The company was called Albertson’s until 2002 when the apostrophe was
removed. The company applied for an IPO in July 2015 and recorded revenue of
$58.7 billion in 2016 financial year.
Dell Company was founded
in 1984 by Michael Dell in Texas dorm room. The company started as a computer
sales venture under PC’s Limited. Today, Dell Company offers a wide range of
technological products including personal computers, servers, software, network
switches, and cameras for consumers, government sector, and enterprise. Dell is
one of the largest companies in Texas by revenues recording returns of $54.9
billion in 2016. It is also the third-largest PC Company in the world after
Lenovo and HP and the number one shipper of PC monitors. Dell has a staff of
over 100,000 employees worldwide.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
is a professional services network providing assurance, tax, and advisory
services in over 158 countries. The PwC traces its origin in 1849 when Samuel
Price began an accounting firm. In 1854, William Cooper also opened his
accounting firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers was formed in 1998 with the merger
between Price Waterhouse, Cooper, and Lybrand with the trading name PwC adopted
in 2010. PwC has been the most prestigious accounting firm in the world since
2010 and one of the largest privately owned companies in the US recording
revenue of $35.4 billion in 2016 financial year.
The Biggest 20 Private Companies In The United States are:
Cargill,
$120.4 billion, Food Drink Tobacco. MN
Koch
Industries, $100 billion, Conglomerate, KS
Albertsons,
$58.7 billion, Food Markets, ID
Dell,
$54.9 billion, Computer Hardware, TX
Price-Waterhouse
Coopers, $35.4 billion, Services, NY
Deloitte,
$35.2 billion, Services, NY
Mars, $33
billion, Food Drink, Tobacco, VA
Publix, $
32.6 billion, Food Markets, FL
Bechtel,
$32.3 billion, Construction, CA
C&S
Wholesale Grocers, Food Drink Tobacco, NH
Ernst
& Young, $28.7 billion, Services, NY
Reyes
Holdings, $25 billion, Food Drink Tobacco, IL
HE Butt
Grocery, $23 billion, Food Markets, TX
Pilot
Flying J, $22.9 billion, Gas Station Stores, TN
Enterprise
Holdings, $19.4 billion, Services, MO
Cox,
$18.1 billion Media, GA
Southern
Glazer’s $17 billion, Food Drink Tobacco, FL
Cumberland
Gulf, $16.5 billion, Gas Station Stores, MA
Meijer,
$16.1 billion, Food Markets, MI
Fidelity,
$15.9 billion, Investment, MA
Comments
Before 1913 when the
war on family wealth began, the vast majority of large companies were Private.
Most were owned by the founders who built these companies during the Industrial
Revolution like
Cornelius Vanderbilt
(1794-1877) oil,
Thomas Mellon
(1813-1908), banking
Andrew Carnegie
(1835-1919), steel
John P. Morgan
(1837-1913) banking
John D. Rockefeller
(1838-1937) oil,
Thomas Edison
(1847-1931), inventor
Henry Ford
(1863-1947), auto,
Jacob Astor
(1864-1912) real estate
The companies they
formed from the inventions of the founders and the bankers who lent them the
money. Most of the wealth these families
amassed was used as working capital plowed back into the businesses.
The railroads were
built by multiple founders in different parts of the US. John P. Morgan was the
banker who got them positioned to pay back their loans.
The laws that killed
the family businesses were the Income Tax and Inheritance Tax laws. It started
in 1913 with taxes at 1%, but immediately began to build and topped out at 90%.
Wealthy families sold their personal holdings and donated their wealth to
“Foundations” that later funded Communist Propaganda non-profits.
I blame Communists for
the war on wealthy families. These were the families who build our US economy.
There are advantages
for Private Companies until the owner dies. It runs like a family business and
doesn’t sell stock to raise capital. The headquarters management team spends
all their time on the business. Frequently, the children and grandchildren of
the founder are raised to inherit the business.
There is often continuity in management style and legacy expertise.
These are often the most stable, best managed companies on the planet.
I worked for Schwan
Foods from 1975 to 1979 at their manufacturing headquarters in Salina Kansas.
The company had annual sales of $150 million with 3400 employees in 1975 and
grew to $650 million with 3400 employees by 1979 due to automation.
The company was owned
by Marvin Schwa1929-1993), the founder and grew to $50 billion through
acquisition. Marvin died at age 64 in 1993 and the company had to sell most of
the businesses it had acquired to pay the inheritance taxes.
In 1994 Alfred Schwan
(1926-2011) became President and it fell to him to raise cash to pay the
inheritance tax bill. Al died at age 85 in 2011.
By 2017, Schwan Foods
revenue was $3.1 billion.
Al Schwan had served
as a fighter pilot in World War II and told me he learned commitment by having
to fly his P-38 from Pensacola to a carrier in the South Pacific on one tank of
gas. Al attended Engineering School and
was the Chief Manufacturing Engineer for John Deere before joining the family
business in the early 1970s as Manufacturing Manager.
Marvin Schwan was an
Eagle Scout and straight A student. He graduated from Junior college in 1948.
Marvin packed the family Ice Cream into a $100 truck full of dry ice and drove
around selling Ice Cream to the Farmwives around Marshall Minnesota. The family
owned a restaurant in Marshall MN famous for its Ice Cream. Once Marvin had
established a route, he would hire a Driver-Salesman to take over and went on to
establish the next route. Everybody was paid by commission and Marvin provided
the trucks. Marvin’s favorite book was “Horatio Alger’s Children”.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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