Koch Industries At No. 1 For First Time In 13 Years

^Koch Industries reclaims the No. 1 spot on our annual ranking of America’s largest private companies. This breaks a twelve-year streak in the top spot by Cargill, the agribusiness giant. Koch Industries’ revenues for the 2019 calendar year  were an estimated $115 billion, up 4.5% from the prior year. Meanwhile, Cargill’s revenues for its most recent fiscal year (through May 2020) were $114.6 billion—just $400 million less than Koch Industries. Cargill revenues were up $1.1 billion or 1% over the prior year. In the company’s annual report, Cargill CEO David MacLennan described 2020 as challenging but reminded stakeholders that the 155-year-old company has seen crises before. He described revenues as steady. 

The two companies have been mainstays of Forbes’ private companies list. Both appeared on our inaugural list in 1985 and on every list since then. Back in 1985, Cargill took the top spot with $30 billion in sales while Koch Industries had sales of $12 billion and was ranked fourth.

Companies on this list tend to stay put. Most  have no intention of becoming public. Of the 219 businesses on the 2020 list, 65% have been on for the past 10 years; 15 of the top 20 were on the list in 1985.

This year there was some movement. Supermarket chain Albertsons, ranked No. 3 last year, went public via a $800 million IPO in June and therefore no longer appears on this year’s ranking. Albertsons had been on the verge of leaving the list a few times since becoming private in 2013. The first attempt was in 2015 via a public offering that was postponed due to market conditions. The second was a proposed merger with publicly traded Rite Aid in 2018, which was called off when Rite Aid shareholders nixed the deal.

Albertsons’ exit  made room in the top 10 for another outfit, San Antonio-based supermarket chain H-E-B.  The company, which has 340 stores in Texas and Mexico, takes the No. 9 spot with estimated revenues of $31.2 billion. Its popular Central Market stores compete with Whole Foods for shoppers interested in organic, specialty and prepared foods. Some locations offer local beers on tap. The family-owned company is run by Chairman and CEO Charles Butt, who is the grandson of founder Florence Butt. The firm has been on the list since 1985, where it was ranked No. 25. 

In addition to Albertsons, 19 other companies didn’t make the list this year either because of a public offering, falling revenues or an acquisition. Rock Ventures, No. 62 in 2019, is the holding company for Quicken Loans and a portfolio of other companies owned by billionaire Dan Gilbert. The mortgage lending and financial services companies were spun off into a new company called Rocket Companies that began trading in August.  

Oxbow, a coal marketing and production company owned by William Koch—younger brother of Koch Industries Chairman Charles Koch—fell off the list because its revenues fell below the $2 threshold. Drummond, another coal company, also dropped off  due to declining revenues, as falling global demand for coal pushed prices down.

See the full list of America’s Largest Private Companies 2020.

Airbnb is on the list for a second time, but it looks unlikely that the company will stay for another year. Ranked at No. 90 with 2019 revenues of $4.8 billion, the company filed to go public on November 16.

Eleven companies joined the ranks in 2020, a combination of new companies and returnees to the list. Standard Industries is the highest ranked newcomer at No. 69 and gets a spot due to new information from the company about its structure. Prior lists had included G-I Holdings (No. 159 in 2019) with the understanding that it was the parent company of Standard Industries as well as of other building material manufacturers such as GAF and BMI Group. Standard Industries reached out to Forbes to explain that it is the parent company, with 2019 revenues of $6.1 billion. 

Another newcomer is Kynetic at No. 168.The e-commerce company, founded by billionaire Michael Rubin, owns Fanatics, Rue Gilt Group and ShopRunner. Fanatics sells online licensed sportswear, sports equipment, memorabilia and collectables, and has deals with professional sports leagues including the NBA, the NFL and the NHL.  

Returnees to the list include Massachusetts-based supermarket chain Big Y, ranked at No. 210, and construction firm Hoffman Corp. of Portland, Oregon at No. 205. Both companies were last on the list in 2008, when the cutoff  was $1 billion in revenues, but fell out of the rankings when the threshold was raised to $2 billion in 2009. 

Methodology

Forbes’ list of largest private companies in America includes only firms with revenue greater than $2 billion in the most recent fiscal year. Most of the companies have no plans to change their private status. Many businesses like the freedom from quarterly earnings expectations and reduced obligations to Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements. (Private companies with publicly traded debt must file financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission.) We exclude companies based outside the U.S., companies that don’t pay income tax (like Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority), mutually owned companies (like State Farm Insurance), cooperatives (like Central Grocers), companies with fewer than 100 employees, and companies that are more than 50% owned by another public, private or non-U.S. company. We also leave out companies whose primary business is auto dealerships or real estate investment and/or management. Whenever possible, our revenue figures for each company exclude sales of publicly traded subsidiaries.  Our data sources include voluntary disclosures by companies, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and estimates from Forbes researchers and outside sources.