You probably think the biggest companies in the world are all on the S&P 500. It makes sense. We hear about Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla every single day because their stock prices are basically a national heartbeat. But there is this whole other world of large privately owned companies that are just as massive, arguably more powerful, and completely invisible to the average retail investor.
They don't have to report to the SEC every quarter. They don't care about "beating the street" or keeping analysts at Goldman Sachs happy. Honestly, it’s a bit of a flex. When you look at a giant like Cargill or Koch Industries, you’re looking at entities that move the literal bedrock of the global economy—food and fuel—without ever having to take a single phone call from a disgruntled shareholder.
It’s weirdly quiet at the top.
The Absolute Titans You’ve Probably Used Today
If you ate breakfast this morning, you likely interacted with Cargill. They are the perennial heavyweight champion of private firms in the U.S. With revenues often topping $170 billion, they dwarf most of the "famous" public companies you see on CNBC. They handle everything from grain trading to chocolate processing. They’ve been owned by the same family since 1865. Think about that longevity. While public companies get hollowed out by activist investors or chopped up for parts to satisfy short-term gains, Cargill just keeps stacking decades.
Then there is Koch Industries. People love to talk about the politics, but from a purely business standpoint, the scale is staggering. We are talking about $125 billion-plus in annual revenue. They own Georgia-Pacific (the Brawny paper towels in your kitchen), Molex (the connectors in your electronics), and massive oil refineries. Charles Koch has famously said the company would go public "only over my dead body." That’s not just hyperbole; it’s a strategic philosophy. Being private lets them reinvest 90% of their earnings back into the business. Public companies? They’re usually pressured to hand that cash back as dividends or buybacks to keep the stock price up.
Why Stay Private When You Could Be Worth Billions More?
Money. Or rather, the control of money.
When a company goes public, it signs a deal with the devil. You get a massive influx of capital, sure, but you lose the ability to think in ten-year cycles. If you’re a CEO of a public company and you have one bad quarter, your head is on the chopping block. Large privately owned companies operate on a different timeline. They can afford to be "wrong" for three years if it means they’ll be market leaders in ten.
Take Mars, Inc. for example. Yes, the M&Ms and Snickers people. They also happen to be one of the biggest pet healthcare providers in the world through brands like VCA and Banfield. If Mars were public, Wall Street might have questioned their massive pivot into vet clinics years ago. But because the Mars family calls the shots, they could ignore the noise and build a pet-care empire that now rivals their candy business in scale.
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The Transparency Trade-off
There is a downside, or at least a trade-off. Transparency is basically zero.
- We only know their revenue because they choose to share it or because Forbes investigators spend months digging through tax filings and industry data.
- Employee stock options are way more complicated. You can't just hop on E-Trade and sell your shares.
- If a private company is behaving badly, there is no "shareholder revolt" to stop them.
It’s a black box. For some, like Fidelity Investments, staying private is about maintaining a specific culture. Abigail Johnson runs a tight ship, and by keeping it in the family, they don't have to worry about a hostile takeover from a competitor who wants to slash their research budget.
The Myth of the "Small" Private Business
Most people hear "private company" and think of the local hardware store or a tech startup in a garage. That’s a mistake. The large privately owned companies sector includes Publix Super Markets, which is actually the largest employee-owned company in the States. They have over 250,000 employees. Imagine trying to manage a workforce that size without the public markets to help with liquidity. They do it through an internal stock system that keeps the "owners" (the cashiers and stockers) invested in the store's success.
Then you have REI. They are a member-owned co-op. It’s a completely different flavor of "private," but it serves the same purpose: shielding the mission from the meat grinder of quarterly earnings calls.
Is the "Big Private" Era Ending?
Actually, it might be growing. We’re seeing a trend where companies stay private much longer. In the 90s, a tech company would go public the second they had a working product. Now? Companies like SpaceX or ByteDance (the parent of TikTok) reach valuations in the hundreds of billions while staying firmly private.
Why? Because private equity is overflowing with cash.
A company doesn't need the New York Stock Exchange to raise a billion dollars anymore. They can just call a sovereign wealth fund or a massive PE firm like Blackstone. This shift is fundamentally changing how wealth is created. If the biggest growth happens while a company is private, by the time it hits the public market, the "easy money" has already been made by the ultra-wealthy and institutional players. It’s a bit of a gatekeeping situation that most people don't realize is happening.
What You Can Actually Do With This Information
You can’t buy Cargill stock. Sorry. But understanding how these giants work gives you a massive leg up in understanding the economy.
First, look at their suppliers. Often, a massive private company relies on smaller, public companies. If Koch Industries is expanding a refinery, the public engineering firms getting those contracts are going to have a very good year.
Second, watch their moves for "true" market signals. Because private companies don't have to perform for the cameras, their investments are often more honest indicators of where they think the world is going. If Mars is buying up vet clinics, it's a signal that the "pet humanization" trend isn't just a fad—it's a long-term economic shift.
Third, if you are looking for a career move, don't sleep on the big privates. They often offer better job security because they aren't prone to the "mass layoffs to boost the stock price" cycle that plagues the tech sector.
Actionable Insights for the Savvy Observer
- Track the "Forbes Largest Private Companies" list yearly. It is the only reliable window into this world. Look for which companies are rising; they are usually the ones disrupting industries without anyone noticing.
- Invest in "Proxy" sectors. Since you can't buy the giants directly, look at the public competitors. If you see a private giant like Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise Rent-A-Car) dominating, look at how public rivals like Hertz are struggling to keep up with their debt loads.
- Evaluate your employment. If you're tired of "pivoting" every three months because a CEO is scared of a 2% dip in share price, target companies like S.C. Johnson or Gulfstream (owned by General Dynamics, but check for private subsidiaries). The stability is real.
- Monitor Private Equity flows. When firms like KKR or Carlyle Group take a public company private, they are usually trying to mimic the "long-term" success of the Cargill model. Watch what they cut and what they grow; it's a blueprint for efficiency.
The world of large privately owned companies isn't going anywhere. If anything, as the public markets become more volatile and obsessed with AI hype, the relative "boringness" of a massive, family-owned grain or toilet paper empire starts to look like the smartest play in the room. This is where the old money stays old, and the new power stays quiet.