17 15 w 37.7511 n 97.2874 w 37.7511 ; 97.2874 koch industries inc. type private industry conglomerate founded 1940 ; 76 years ago 1940 founder fred c. koch headquarters wichita kansas u.s. area served worldwide key people charles koch chairman & ceo david koch executive vp products asphalt chemicals commodities trading energy fibers fertilizers finance minerals natural gas plastics petroleum pulp and paper ranching 1 revenue us 100 billion 2015 2 owner koch family 84 % number of employees 100 000 2015 2 subsidiaries georgia pacific invista flint hills resources molex website www.kochind.com koch industries inc. ko k is an american multinational corporation based in wichita kansas united states with subsidiaries involved in manufacturing trading and investments . it was founded as wood river oil and refining company in 1940 and later as rock island oil & refining company . koch also owns invista georgia pacific molex flint hills resources koch pipeline koch fertilizer koch minerals and matador cattle company . koch companies are involved in industries such as the manufacturing refining and distribution 1 of petroleum chemicals energy fiber intermediates and polymers minerals fertilizers pulp and paper chemical technology equipment ranching 3 finance 4 commodities trading 5 and other ventures and investments . the firm employs about 60 000 people in the united states and another 40 000 in 59 other countries . 6 in 2013 2015 forbes listed it as the second largest privately held company in the united states after cargill with an annual revenue of 115 billion 7 8 9 10 11 down from the largest in 2006 . if koch industries were a public company in 2013 it would have ranked 17 in the fortune 500 . 12 fred c. koch after whom koch industries inc. is named co founded the company in 1940 and developed an innovative crude oil refining process . 13 his sons charles koch chairman of the board and chief executive officer and david koch executive vice president are principal owners of the company after they bought out their brothers frederick and william bill koch for 1.1 billion in 1983 . 14 charles and david koch each own 42 % of koch industries . charles has stated that the company would go public over my dead body . 9 contents 1 history 1.1 predecessor companies 1.2 koch industries 1.3 recent news 2 subsidiaries 2.1 arteva europe s.a.r.l. 2.2 flint hills resources lp 2.3 georgia pacific 2.4 invista 2.5 koch ag & energy solutions 2.6 koch chemical technology group 2.7 koch glitsch 2.7.1 eta process plant 2.7.2 koch modular process systems 2.8 koch minerals 2.9 koch pipeline company lp 2.10 koch supply & trading 2.11 matador cattle company 2.12 molex 3 environmental and safety record 4 political activity 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit predecessor companies edit in 1925 fred c. koch joined mit classmate lewis e. winkler at an engineering firm in wichita kansas which was renamed the winkler koch engineering company . in 1927 they developed a more efficient thermal cracking process for turning crude oil into gasoline . this process threatened the competitive advantage of established oil companies which sued for patent infringement . 14 temporarily forced out of business in the united states they turned to other markets including the soviet union where winkler koch built 15 cracking units between 1929 and 1932 . during this time koch came to despise communism and joseph stalin s regime . 14 15 in his 1960 book a business man looks at communism koch wrote that he found the ussr to be a land of hunger misery and terror . 16 according to charles koch virtually every engineer he worked with there was purged . 14 in 1940 koch joined new partners to create a new firm the wood river oil and refining company which is today known as koch industries . in 1946 the firm acquired the rock island refinery and crude oil gathering system near duncan oklahoma . wood river was later renamed the rock island oil & refining company . 17 charles koch joined rock island in 1961 having started his career at the management consulting firm arthur d. little . he became president in 1966 and chairman at age 32 upon his father s death the following year . 13 18 koch industries edit the company was renamed koch industries in 1968 in honor of fred koch the year after his death . at that time it was primarily an engineering firm with part interest in the pine bend refinery in minnesota a crude oil gathering system in oklahoma 14 and some cattle ranches . 19 in 1968 charles approached union oil of california about buying their interest in great northern oil company and its pine bend refinery but the discussions quickly stalled after union asked for a large premium . 15 in 1969 union oil began trying to market their interest in great northern by telling potential buyers that koch s controlling interest could be thwarted by currying favor with another owner j. howard marshall ii . when marshall discovered this he threw his lot in with koch they together acquired a majority interest in the company and ultimately bought union s interest . 17 ownership of pine bend refinery led to several new businesses and capabilities including chemicals fibers polymers asphalt and other commodities such as petroleum coke and sulfur . these were followed by global commodity trading gas liquids processing real estate pulp and paper risk management and finance . 15 in 1970 charles was joined at the family firm by his brother david koch . having started as a technical services manager david became president of koch engineering in 1979 . koch industries imports and refines 25 % of canadian oil sands imports to the united states . 20 21 in 2010 koch industries was among the first group of nearly 2 000 employers that applied for and were granted federal reimbursements from the u.s. department of health and human services under the new early retiree reinsurance program established by the patient protection and affordable care act for providing health insurance to retirees too young to be eligible for medicare . 22 in 2015 koch industries joined the ban the box movement by removing questions about prior criminal convictions from its job application making it easier for ex offenders to find work . 23 in november 2015 koch industries signed a statement of support with employer support of the guard and reserve esgr that pledges koch will provide supervisors with the tools to hire and support employees serving in the guard and reserve . 24 recent news edit in 2008 koch industries discovered that the french affiliate koch glitsch had violated bribery laws allegedly securing contracts in algeria egypt india morocco nigeria and saudi arabia after an investigation by ethics compliance officer egorova farines . 25 after koch industries investigative team looked into her findings the four employees involved were terminated . according to journalist jennifer rubin koch industries general counsel stated that egorova farines failed to promptly share the findings choosing instead to give the information to a manager at koch glitsch who was later fired for bribery . according to koch industries general counsel egorova farines was not fired but instead ran into performance problems left the company to go on leave and never returned . egorova farines sued koch glitsch for wrongful termination in france lost and was ordered to pay costs for bringing a frivolous case . 26 in september 2013 koch industries agreed to acquire molex a provider of electronic components and solutions for 7.2 billion . 27 in april 2014 koch industries and the private equity arm of goldman sachs agreed to acquire printing ink producer flint group for around 3 billion . 28 the united negro college fund announced a 25 million grant from koch industries and the charles koch foundation in 2014 to go towards merit based scholarships and general support of historically black colleges and universities . 29 in november 2014 koch industries and oplink communications an optical networking device maker reached an agreement for koch optics to acquire oplink for 445 million . 30 subsidiaries edit arteva europe s.a.r.l. edit arteva europe is an internal bank which is headquartered in luxembourg . it has at least one branch office located in zurich switzerland . 31 flint hills resources lp edit flint hills resources lp originally called koch petroleum group is a major refining and chemicals company based in wichita kansas . it sells products such as gasoline diesel jet fuel ethanol polymers intermediate chemicals base oils and asphalt . it operates oil refineries in six states . flint hills has chemical plants in illinois texas and michigan . the firm is also a major manufacturer of asphalt used for paving and roofing applications . it operates 13 asphalt terminals located in six states including alaska 2 terminals wisconsin 2 iowa 3 minnesota 4 nebraska 1 and north dakota 1 . 32 the firm manages the purchasing of domestic crude oil from texas and colorado offices has four ethanol plants across iowa operates three refineries in alaska texas and minnesota and has a refinery terminal in alaska . the minnesota refinery can process 392 000 barrels 62 300 m3 of crude a day most of which comes from alberta canada and handles one quarter of all canadian oil sands crude entering the u.s. 33 it also operates fuel terminals in wisconsin 4 locations texas 6 and one each in iowa and minnesota . 34 in march 1999 koch petroleum group acknowledged that it had negligently discharged hundreds of thousands of gallons of aviation fuel into wetlands from its refinery in rosemount minnesota and that it had illegally dumped a million gallons of high ammonia wastewater onto the ground and into the mississippi river . koch petroleum paid a 6 million fine and 2 million in remediation costs and was ordered to serve three years of probation . 35 in september 2000 a federal grand jury returned a 97 count indictment against koch industries and four individual employees for environmental crimes relating to alleged violations of the clean air act and the measurement and control of benzene emissions from the west plant in corpus christi texas . 36 37 a superseding indictment followed in january 2001 . in april 2001 koch pleaded guilty to one count related to wastewater reporting it had self reported to the government in 1995 according to the company . 38 koch industries was fined 20 million of which 10 million was a criminal fine and 10 million to be used for special projects to improve the environment in corpus christi . 39 40 41 in june 2003 the us commerce department fined flint hills resources a 200 000 civil penalty . the fine settled charges that the company exported crude petroleum from the us to canada without proper us government authorization . the commerce department s bureau of industry and security said from july 1997 to march 1999 koch petroleum later called flint hills resources committed 40 violations of export administration regulations . 42 in 2005 koch s flint hills resources refinery was recognized by the environmental protection agency s clean air awards program for reducing air emissions by 50 percent even while expanding operations . 43 the epa has worked with flint hills resources to develop strategies for curtailing so called upset emissions in what agency and company sources say could lead to guidance to minimize such emissions from petroleum refineries and other industrial facilities . 44 the epa described the process as a model for other companies . 45 in 2006 flint hills resources was fined nearly 16 000 by the epa for 10 separate violations of the clean air act at its alaska oil refinery facilities and required to spend another 60 000 on safety equipment needed to help prevent future violations . 46 in may 2014 flint hills resources announced a definitive