Almost One in Eight of the Largest Private Companies Is Employee-Owned

Twenty-five of the largest private companies as ranked by Forbes (219 in all) are employee-owned. Twenty-one of these have ESOPs, two have profit sharing plans that work like ESOPs, one is owned by a trust for employees, and one provides phantom stock to all employees. The companies are ranked by sales. Nine of the companies are supermarket or convenience store chains, and six are in construction. Companies had to have $2 billion or more in sales to be in the list.

Employee Ownership Companies on Forbes Largest Private Company List

Company	Industry	Rank	Employees
Publix	Supermarkets	5	207,000
H-E-B*	Supermarkets	9	135,000
Wawa	Convenience stores	23	37,000
QuikTrip	Convenience stores	29	24,000
Hy-Vee*	Supermarkets	38	85,000
Winco	Supermarkets	53	20,000
Graybar**	Electrical supply	55	4,700
Sheetz	Convenience stores	67	19,700
DPR Construction***	Construction	70	6,500
Sammons Enterprises	Holding company	73	4,600
Hensel Phelps	Construction	74	3,000
Schreiber Foods	Dairy products	86	7,000
McCarthy Holdings	Construction	94	4,800
Swinerton	Construction	96	4,600
Kehe Distributors	Food distribution	97	5,500
D&H Distributing	Technology distributor	103	1,350
JE Dunn	Construction	105	3,000
Amsted	Industrial products	108	18,000
W.L. Gore	Materials manufacturer	119	11,000
Black & Veatch	Engineering	123	10,600
Great Lakes Cheese	Dairy products	139	3,000
Houchens	Supermarkets and other businesses	159	15,600
Brookshire Grocery	Supermarkets	173	16,000
Andersen	Windows	178	8,000
Austin Industries	Construction	179	6,000

*Profit sharing plan primarily invested in company stock

**Trust owns shares for employees

***Provides phantom stock to all employees