Seventeen of the Forbes 2024 list of the largest 100 privately held companies (ranked by sales) have some form of employee ownership. Five are 100% ESOP-owned, four are minority ESOP-owned, two have profit-sharing plans primarily invested in company stock, one is an employee ownership trust, and one is a broad-based partnership available to employees at all levels. Supermarkets, convenience store chains, engineering, and construction are the most common industries among the employee ownership companies. We also compile a list of the largest employee-owned companies for our yearly Employee Ownership 100. That list includes only companies for which we have reliable external verification that their plans are broad-based, and it also focuses on majority and 100% employee-owned firms and the active participants they cover.