In case I ever needed someone to blame for an evil corporate conspiracy, I’d start my search in this list of 11 biggest private companies in the world. All jokes aside, these are some of the biggest movers and shakers in the business world. Unlike your ordinary multinational run off the mill corporation, whose stocks are sold on every major market (aka public companies), you can’t buy stocks in companies on this list. They are private, owned by a small group of people or just one family, in some cases. How they managed to grow and become industry leaders without having to resort to selling company stocks is a credit to their founders and managers. There are some amazing success stories behind these private companies, stories about people who created business empires that span several continents from scratch.
Some of the private companies on this list have been public at one time, like Dell. Its founder, Michael Dell, decided in 2013 that he didn’t want to share his toys anymore and in one of the biggest leverage buyouts, spent $24.4 billion to buy his company back.
These private companies have combined revenue of more than $660 billion annually. And employ 1.6 million people. That means that on average, every company has almost 150,000 employees and makes sales in excess of $60 billion. If it were an army, an average private company on this list would be 33rd on the world, just below United Kingdom armed forces in terms of manpower. In terms of money, its revenue would have placed it on the 44th place of the list of countries by budget size, between Israel and New Zealand.
For the most part, these are highly specialized companies, with few exceptions, like Koch Industries. None of them can be found on the list of 11 biggest oil companies in the world. This represents the legacy of their founders, who mostly started as small business owners and over time created empires that are today 11 biggest private companies in the world by revenue.
11. Mars
Revenue: $33 billion
Founded by Frank C. Mars in 1911, Mars Incorporated is owned by Mars family. Apart from food and beverages brands like Snickers (named after Frank’s favorite horse), they also have interest in pet food by owning Whiskas and Pedigree.
10. Pilot Flying J
Revenue: $33.9 billion
Operating truck stops on more than 550 locations throughout the United States, Pilot Flying J majority owner is Jimmy Haslam, who also serves as the chairman and CEO.
9. PricewaterhouseCoopers
Revenue: $34 billion
PricewaterhouseCoopers or PwC is the second largest professional services network in the world and largest in the United States. Together with Deloitte, KPMG and EY it is a part of Big Four, group of 4 biggest auditor companies in the world.
8. Deloitte
Revenue: $34.2 billion
Another company from the Big Four, Deloitte is the largest professional services network in the world. Although officially based in the United States, it has branches all over the world. It is owned and managed by several partners.
7. Bechtel
Revenue: $39.4
The largest construction company in the United States, Bechtel was founded in 1898, when cattle rancher Warren A. Bechtel decided to use him teams of mules in the construction of the railroad. Some 30 years later, he won a contract to be one of the construction companies that would build Hoover Dam. Later, the company would be involved in projects around the world, like Eurotunnel, Saudi Arabia’s major airports, highways in Romania and Turkey and the world’s largest solar thermal power plant in California.
6. Bosch
Revenue: $55.32 billion
Started in 1886 as Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering in Stuttgart, founded by Robert Bosch, Bosch is today the largest supplier of automotive components in the world with more than 300,000 employees in some 350 subsidiary companies.
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5.Dell
Revenue: $57.2 billion
Dell qualified for our list of 11 biggest private companies in the world in 2013, when Michael Dell announced his bid for a buyout. In the largest such deal since 2007, he managed to obtain final board’s approval and after 25 years, Dell ceased to be a public company.
4. Aldi
Revenue: $60.1 billion
Karl and Theo Albrecht took over their father’s store in Essen in 1946 and in 50 years created the largest discount store chain in the world, with more than 9.600 supermarkets. At the moment of his death, Karl Albrecht was the richest man in Germany. And all that from a grocery store in small German town.
3. Lidl
Revenue: $71.88 billion
When Josef Schwarz was choosing a name for his new chain of supermarkets, he encountered a linguistic problem. If he named it after himself, like he wanted, it would be called Schwarz market, or in German, the black market. That wouldn’t do, so instead, he bought naming rights from his former partner, Ludwig Lidl, for a sum of 1,000 German Marks. I wonder how Ludwig’s heirs feel when they see one of 9800 supermarkets worldwide that bear their name.
2. Koch Industries
Revenue: $115 billion
Koch Industries has interests in several fields, including oil, energy, real estate, chemicals, fertilizer, commodity trading and finance. It is currently owned by two of the four sons of the founder, Fred C. Koch. Charles and his brother David own 42% of the company each.
1. Cargill
Revenue: $134.9 billion
The largest of 11 biggest private companies in the world is Cargill. The company mainly deals in agriculture, accounting for 25% of all US grain exports, although they have some interest in manufacturing, energy and transport. Between 85% and 90% of the company is owned by family members. If Cargill was a public company instead of private, it would be 9th on Fortune 500 list, ahead of Ford.
