Koch Industries Inc. SuccessStory

Koch senior started the company with Wood river oil and refining company and progressed by buying up the other oil competitors. Between the timeline of 1959 & 2004, Koch industries purchased the Great Northern Oil Company, three profitable oil refineries from Sun Oil, the United Gas Pipeline and several refineries in Minnesota and North pole, Alaska. According to company’s data, they used to produce 800,000 barrels of oil every single day.

In recent years the company spread to several enterprises other than oil and gas, which includes fertilizers, commodity and financial trading, fibers and polymers and ranching. Following years the company purchased Invista, which is the world largest fiber company for $4.4 billion in 2003. In 2005, Koch acquired Georgia- Pacific, a renowned paper product company for $21 billion. Not stopping there, recently Koch industries along with a private equity arm of Goldman Sachs agreed to take possession of printing ink producer Flint Group for around $3 billion.

The company has gone through various assessments for environmental safety. According to Bloomberg report, from 1999 to 2003 Koch paid approximately $400 million in fines and other cases. In 1996 they had to pay $296 million to the families affected by their LPG pipeline blast.  The company is also known to pay the largest civil fine ever, for over 300 oil spills across 6 states reported in 2000. Koch also paid $30 million as a penalty for illegal discharge of crude oil. 

In 2001 Koch industries was fined for the emission of 85 metric tons of benzene, costing them a fine of $20 million. But on the positive side, company earned 792 awards from January 2009 for safety, environmental excellence, innovation, and customer services. Apart from allegations, the Koch industries are always firm in their perspectives and motto. Under the great leadership company experienced an overwhelming growth and created value in the society. Koch diversified industries are always in the news for their charitable work and achieving new milestones. The company reinvests the 90% of earnings to grow existing business and acquire assets, which makes the giant to stand high in the global market.