Butt is the chairman and chief executive officer of HEB Grocery, a food retailer that had revenue of more than $27 billion in 2019. His family controls 85% of the closely held San Antonio, Texas-based business. HEB Grocery has more than 120,000 employees and operates more than 400 stores in the U.S. and Mexico.
Charles Butt's net worth of $5.78B can buy ...
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Butt's fortune is derived from HEB Grocery, which operates more than 370 stores in Texas and Mexico and had worldwide retail sales of $27.64 billion in 2019, according to Supermarket News' Top 75 report. HEB Grocery has more than 120,000 employees and 400 stores, according to its website.
The Butt family is the primary owner of the business, according to the Nov. 2, 2015 release, which also stated that employees would be eligible to receive 15% of its stock. The billionaire is credited with his family's 85% stake in the business because of his role as chairman and chief executive officer.
The company's valuation is based on the average enterprise value-to-sales multiple of four publicly traded peer companies: Ingles Markets, Kroger, Weis, and Loblaw.
Dya Campos, a HEB spokesperson, declined to comment on the net wealth calculation.
C.C. Butt Grocery Store was founded by Florence Butt in 1905, after her husband and company namesake became ill with tuberculosis. With $60, she bought assorted provisions and sold them from her front room. She turned the business over to her son, Howard, in the 1920s; her grandsons, Charles and Howard Jr., worked as bag boys. Howard Jr., after becoming a close friend of Christian evangelist Billy Graham, decided to step back from the business to become a preacher. He still acts as the company's vice chairman and administers the H.E. Butt Foundation, which sponsors church seminars.
After studying at the University of Pennsylvania and receiving an MBA from Harvard University, Charles became president of HEB Grocery in 1971. Among his ideas: creating concept stores aimed at specific communities. He took the H-E-B brand into Mexico in 1997 and, in 2001, received the country's highest honor for a foreign citizen -- the Aguila Azteca -- in recognition of his business and philanthropic activities there.
Butt is an advocate for public education in Texas. He has donated to both Republican and Democrat candidates, and gives to the Texas Parent PAC political group. Under his guidance, HEB supports the annual Excellence in Education awards for teachers. He also gave $20 million to help build a children's museum in his hometown of San Antonio. In 2006, he founded Raise Your Hand Texas, which funds teacher training and lobbies on education policy.