April 29, 2021

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

NCEO founder and senior staff member

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