Charles Koch (and David Koch)

* Father, Fred C. Koch (d. 1967), invented method of turning heavy oil into gasoline. Sons Charles, David, Frederick and William inherited Koch Industries after father's death. Charles and David bought out William and Frederick for $1.1 billion in 1983. Today company has stakes in pipelines, refineries, fertilizer, fibers and polymers, forest and consumer products, chemical technology.
* Studied nuclear and chemical engineering at MIT; cofounder of conservative think tank Cato Institute.
* Much of Koch Industries' success can be traced to Mr. Koch's interest in
and commitment to scientific and social progress, which led to the
development and implementation of the Market-Based Management
business philosophy. The concepts and practice of MBM are described in
Mr. Koch’s book, “The Science of Success,” published in February 2007
by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
* Charles and his brother David do not appear to be the darlings of media, not by a long shot - see here
* Central to the acquisitions and to Koch's growth philosophy, Koch said, was his commitment to "Market-Based Management," a term he uses to describe encouragement of entrepreneurship within his company. The thinking behind MBM reflects the free-market philosophies of the economic theorists Friedrich von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Joseph Schumpeter, and others who believed that encouraging entrepreneurial behavior and individual responsibility would make societies wealthier.
* You probably haven’t heard of Koch Industries, largely because it doesn’t trade on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq. It is a private company, and Koch has no plans to change its status. In fact, at the luncheon last week, Charles Koch confessed that being private is one of the secrets to his company’s success. “Most publicly traded companies focus on short-term quarterly earnings reports and, therefore, have a hard time maximizing long-term value. If we had been a public company, I would have been fired long ago!”
* Koch started out as an oil & gas firm, but has since expanded into chemicals, plastics, fertilizers, ranching, paper, and trading commodities, while exiting from pipelines, tankers, fiberglass, and feedlots. Koch is a classic model of Joseph Schumpeter’s “creative destruction.”
* Excerpts from his book "The Science of Success" - link

Highlights

* Charles Koch confessed that being private is one of the secrets to his company’s success. “Most publicly traded companies focus on short-term quarterly earnings reports and, therefore, have a hard time maximizing long-term value. If we had been a public company, I would have been fired long ago!”
* Koch started out as an oil & gas firm, but has since expanded into chemicals, plastics, fertilizers, ranching, paper, and trading commodities, while exiting from pipelines, tankers, fiberglass, and feedlots. Koch is a classic model of Joseph Schumpeter’s “creative destruction.”

==KEEPING THE COMPANY PRIVATE==
==CREATIVE DESTRUCTION==