Koch Industries history

Private Company Incorporated: 1942 as Rock Island Oil & Refining CompanyEmployees: 8,000Sales: $16.00 billion

In 1946, the firm acquired the Rock Island refinery and crude oil gathering system near Duncan, Oklahoma.

Protective of their tight control over every aspect of the oil business, the majors began a series of lawsuits against Fred Koch that would last 20 years and involve over 40 separate cases, eventually being resolved in 1952 when Koch won a $1.5 million settlement.

Fred Koch's particular aversion to Soviet communism took a more direct form in 1958 when he helped found the John Birch Society, an ultraconservative group soon to become notorious for its warnings about the threat of communists to United States society.

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". According to Charles Koch, "Virtually every engineer he worked with [there] was purged."

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.

By the time of Fred Koch's death in 1967, sales at Rock Island and the various Koch subsidiaries had reached about $400 million, presenting the 32-year-old Charles Koch with a weighty responsibility.

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.

In 1969 Koch Industries merged with Atlas Petroleum Limited of the Bahamas, a distributor of crude oil and petroleum products with about $100 million a year in sales.

In 1970, Charles was joined at the family firm by his brother David Koch.

"High Profit, Low Profile," Forbes, July 15, 1974.

Having started as a technical services manager, David became president of Koch Engineering in 1979.

William Koch gained the support of the oldest brother, Frederick, until then relatively uninvolved in company affairs, and the two of them launched a proxy fight in 1980 aimed at ousting Charles from his leadership.

The company picked up a second refinery in 1981, paying $265 million for a Sun Company plant in Texas, and had greatly expanded its capacity in gas-liquids fractionating and asphalt production, to name only two of its myriad activities.

Kraar, Louis, "Family Feud at a Corporate Colossus," Fortune, July 26, 1982.

The attempt failed, and after a round of lawsuits and mudslinging, William and Frederick Koch were bought out in 1983 by Charles and David Koch for around $1.1 billion in cash.

In 1987 the Justice Department announced it was investigating several companies on price-fixing charges, a Koch unit among them.

In 1989 the Senate looked into charges that Koch had been stealing oil from Native Americans in Oklahoma by deliberately mismeasuring the crude oil it was buying.

By 1996 Koch Industries had revenues of about $30 billion, a 300-fold increase in the previous 30 years.

McMillin, Molly, "Koch Has Grown Quickly, Quietly," Wichita Eagle, March 23, 1997.

A more lasting venture also began in 1998 when Koch joined with the Saba family of Mexico to acquire Hoechst AG's Trevira unit, which specialized in advanced polyester resins and synthetic fibers.

Collapsing hog prices forced Purina Mills to file for bankruptcy protection in late 1999.

In January 2000 Koch agreed to pay a $30 million fine to settle the lawsuits that had been filed in connection with its involvement in more than 300 oil spills from its pipelines and oil facilities in six states.

From that time through 2001, William Koch continued to wage legal and emotional warfare against Charles Koch, going so far as to hire private detectives to gather evidence of wrongdoing by Koch Industries that was subsequently handed over to federal investigators.

Griekspoor, Phyllis Jacobs, "Boundless Koch: Downturn Sets Stage for Expansion," Wichita Eagle, September 14, 2003.

In May 2004 Koch acquired the INVISTA textile unit from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company for $4.2 billion.

Following its December 2005 purchase of Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Koch Industries, Inc. became the largest privately held firm in the United States.

Berkowitz, Bill, "The Biggest Company You Never Heard Of," Global Information Network, January 5, 2006.

In 2008, the company 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.

In 2013, the company acquired Molex, a provider of electronic components, for $7.2 billion.

In September 2014, along with the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, the company acquired Flint Group, a printing ink producer, for $3 billion.

In 2015, the company 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.

In November 2017, Koch Disruptive Technologies was established, the corporation's venture arm, led by Chase Koch, son of Charles Koch.