Koch is the chairman and chief executive officer of Koch Industries, the second-largest closely held business in the U.S. The Wichita, Kansas-based conglomerate operates in oil refining, pipelines, commodities trading, ranching and paper pulp, and has annual revenue of about $110 billion. He owns 42% of the company.
Charles Koch's net worth of $48.7B can buy ...
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Koch's fortune derives from a 42% stake in Koch Industries, a closely held industrial conglomerate. Koch Industries is the second-largest closely held company in the U.S. and has annual revenues of about $110 billion, according to its website.
Revenue for Flint Hills Resources and its chemicals business, as well as Koch Pipelines and Koch Fertilizer, is calculated to be $39 billion by comparing their reported production capacities with select industry peers.
Based on information from credit reports and people familiar, paper and pulp producer Georgia-Pacific had $21 billion of revenue, and polymer and fiber producer Invista had revenue of $4 billion. Electronic components manufacturer Molex had revenue of $5.5 billion.
Infor Global Solutions, an enterprise software company, had revenue of $3.1 billion and is 45 percent owned by Koch.
Of the remaining group revenue -- $33.9 billion -- 90% is attributed to Koch's commodity trading business. The remaining $3.6 billion is attributed to Koch's other businesses and is included at a price-to-sales multiple of one. Valuation details for the units analyzed individually can be found in the asset notes for each.
In addition, $30.4 billion in short term assets is held at the Koch Industries parent, based on Moody's reports stating that the company has a zero net debt position.
Koch's cash investments were included at $2 billion in 2015, based on a March 2016 Bloomberg report and applied to a generalized asset allocation since then.
The valuation of Koch Industries was updated in July 2019 using updated financials and new methodologies for some subsidiaries, leading to an increase in Koch's net worth of about $15 billion.
The billionaire declined to comment on his net worth through Koch spokesman Rob Carlton in July 2019.
Charles Koch was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1935, to Mary and Fred Koch, who had co-founded an engineering company that specialized in oil refining and oil-related processes. Charles attended military school and studied engineering at MIT. He joined the family business in 1961 and took over the company following his father's death in 1967.
A fraternal feud over control of the business erupted in 1980, when younger brother Bill and older brother Frederick tried to unseat Charles as CEO in a failed boardroom coup, while a fourth brother, David, sided with Charles. Bill and Fred agreed to sell their shares back to the company for $1.1 billion in 1983. They sued two years later, claiming they were underpaid. A 15-year legal battle ensued, which was decided in favor of Charles and David in 2000.
At the helm of Koch Industries for more than 50 years, Koch has made a number of acquisitions, including the 2005 purchase of Georgia-Pacific for $21 billion. One of the original founders of the Cato Institute, he remains a backer of Republican and libertarian causes.