Employee Ownership Blog

Twenty-Eight of the Largest 200 Private Companies Have EO or Similar Plans

Written by Corey Rosen | Apr 3, 2024 4:00:00 AM

By my estimation, twenty-eight of the Forbes 200 largest private companies (by revenue) appear to be partially or wholly employee-owned or have employee ownership-like plans. Two are companies with profit-sharing plans invested in company stock, one is a broad-based partnership, one offers phantom stock to all employees, one is an ownership trust, one grants stock awards, eight are minority-owned by ESOPs, and fourteen are majority-owned by ESOPs:

Company Rank Industry Plan
Cargill 1 Grain merchant Partial ESOP
Publix 3 Supermarket ESOP, Stock purchase
H-E-B 5 Supermarket Profit sharing
Quik-Trip 17 Convenience stores Partial ESOP
Wawa 20 Convenience stores Partial ESOP
Sheetz 27 Convenience stores Partial ESOP
Edward Jones 36 Investment advice Broad-based partnership
Hy-Vee 38 Supermarkets Partial ESOP
Graybar 48 Electrical Distributor Ownership trust
DPR 54 Construction Phantom stock
WinCo 56 Supermarket Majority ESOP
Sammons 77 Holding Company Majority ESOP
Schreiber Foods 82 Dairy products Majority ESOP
Kehe 88 Food distribution Majority ESOP
Hensel Phelps 91 Construction Stock awards
JE Dunn 101 Construction Partial ESOP
D&H Distributing 104 Industrial distribution Majority ESOP
McCarthy Holdings 113 Construction Majority ESOP
W.L. Gore & Associates 135 Technology products Majority ESOP
Brookshire Grocery 142 Supermarkets Majority ESOP
Amsted Industries 147 Industrial manufacturer Majority ESOP
Black & Veatch 150 Engineering Majority ESOP
Houchens 157 Holding company Majority ESOP
Burns and McDonnell 163 Engineering Majority ESOP
Swinerton 168 Construction Partial ESOP
Andersen 170 Window manufacturer Partial ESOP
Great Lakes Cheese 174 Cheese manufacturer Majority ESOP
Austin Industries 185 Construction Majority ESOP