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Charles Koch

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Charles G. Koch
Born (1935-11-01) November 1, 1935 (age 89)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupation(s)chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries, Inc.
Parent(s)Mary Robinson
Fred C. Koch

Charles de Ganahl Koch (Template:Pron-en; born November 1, 1935) is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries, Inc., the second largest privately held company (after Cargill) by revenue in the United States.

Early life, education, and career

Koch was born and lives in Wichita, Kansas, one of four sons of Mary Robinson and Fred C. Koch; Koch's grandfather was a Dutch immigrant who settled in West Texas. Koch's academic life was spent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1957, he received a bachelor's degree in general engineering, a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1958, and a masters degree in chemical engineering in 1960. Koch first started working at Arthur D. Little, Inc. until his father made him an offer he "couldn't refuse"; Koch moved back to Wichita and joined Rock Island Oil & Refining Company in 1961. In 1967 he became president of his father's business, which was then a "$177 million, medium-sized oil firm." In the same year, he renamed the firm Koch Industries in honor of his father. By 2006, Koch Industries had a $90 billion revenue and had grown by more than 2000 times under Koch with an annual compounded return of 18%, comparable to the returns of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.

Koch's strategy for running a business, Market Based Managment (MBM), is described in his 2007 book The Science of Success. Koch Industries' 2004 acquisition of Invista "pushed him to write the book" in order to reach new employees with the philosophy.

Political activities

Koch funds and supports libertarian and free-market organizations such as the Cato Institute, which he co-founded with Edward H. Crane and Murray Rothbard in 1977, and the Mercatus Center, a public policy think tank at George Mason University. Koch persuaded his brother, David H. Koch, to become the Libertarian Party's 1980 candidate for vice president; the party ticket promised to abolish Social Security, the Federal Reserve Board, welfare, minimum-wage laws, corporate taxes, all price supports and subsidies for agriculture and business, and U.S. Federal agencies including the SEC, EPA, ICC, FTC, OSHA, FBI, CIA, and DOE. The ticket proposed legalization of prostitution, recreational drugs, and suicide. After the bid, according to a book by Brian Doherty, an editor of Reason magazine, Charles and David viewed politicians as "actors playing out a script" and they wanted to "supply the themes and words for the scripts" by influencing "the areas where policy ideas percolate from: academia and think tanks". Koch also organizes twice yearly meetings of Republican donors.

Koch Industries and its subsidiaries, of which Koch is 42% owner, spent more than $20 million on lobbying in 2008 according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, with $1.15 million—more than any other oil and gas company—donated to candidates. Koch funds the Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program through the Institute for Humane Studies. In the August 2010 New Yorker, Jane Mayer writes that "As their fortunes grew, Charles and David Koch became the primary underwriters of hard-line libertarian politics in America." The article states the Koch brothers fund a multitude of groups opposed to Obama administration policies.

Views

Koch owes "a huge debt of gratitude to the giants who created the Austrian School" of economics. Koch was especially impressed by Ludwig von Mises' Human Action, and sought to apply its ideas to his business practices early in his career. Other influences on Koch include F.A. Hayek, Michael Polanyi, Joseph Schumpeter, Julian Simon, Paul Johnson, Charles Murray, Leonard Read, and F.A. Harper. Doherty, author of Radicals for Capitalism, stated Robert LeFevre was an anarchist (autarchist) figure who won Charles' heart.

To Koch, "the short-term infatuation with quarterly earnings on Wall Street restricts the earnings potential of Fortune 500 publicly traded firms". Koch also considers public firms to be "feeding grounds for lawyers and lawsuits", with regulation like Sarbanes–Oxley only increasing the earnings potential of private firms.

In an interview article for the Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore writes "Charles Koch—no surprise—disdains government and the political class." Koch thinks the billionaires Warren Buffett and George Soros, who fund organizations with different ideologies, "simply haven't been sufficiently exposed to the ideas of liberty". Koch thinks "prosperity is under attack" by the Obama administration and "warns of policies that 'threaten to erode our economic freedom and transfer vast sums of money to the state'".

Personal life

As of 2010, Koch was worth approximately $21.5 billion according to the Forbes 400 list. Koch "rarely grants media interviews and prefers to keep a low profile". Koch has been married to his wife Liz for ~37 years. The Koch brothers were involved in litgation against each other in the 1980s and 1990s.

See also

References

  1. Charles Koch profile page. Forbes.com. Retrieved September 2010.
  2. Forbes List
  3. ^ "The 400 Richest Americans". Forbes. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Arts / Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Master of Science Son of Koch Industries founder Fred C. Koch (d. 1967), MIT grad who invented method of refining gasoline from heavy oil. Took refining innovation to Soviet Union 1929; returned home 1930s. Sons Frederick, Charles, David and William inherited Koch Industries after father's death; Charles and David bought out William and Frederick for $1.3 billion in 1983. {{cite news}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 66 (help)
  4. "FMK Foundation History". Fmkfoundation.org. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  5. Daniel Fisher (26 February 2007). "Koch's Laws". Forbes. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
  6. ^ "Twenty Questions for Charles Koch". American Journal of Business. 24 (1). Muncie: 15–8. Spring 2009.
  7. ^ Stephen Moore (May 6, 2006). "The Weekend Interview with Charles Koch: Private Enterprise". The Wall Street Journal. p. A.8.
  8. ^ Phyllis Jacobs Griekspoor (4 March 2007). "Charles Koch: His philosophy and his company". McClatchy - Tribune Business News. p. 1.
  9. Mark Skousen (4 March 2007). "Business Bookshelf: A Short Course In Long-Term Value". The Wall Street Journal. p. D.8.
  10. ^ Kate Zernike (25 October 2010). "Secretive Republican Donors Are Planning Ahead". The New York Times.
  11. "25 Years at Cato" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  12. Davis, Bob (July 16, 2004). "Rule Breaker: In Washington, Tiny Think Tank Wields Big Stick on Regulation". Wall Street Journal. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  13. "The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win". Fresh Air. August 26, 2010. 12:09 minutes in. National Public Radio. WHYY. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help) Listen
  14. ^ Jane Mayer. "Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
  15. How Those Libertarians Pay the Bills New York Magazine 3 November 1980. pg. 21-2.
  16. Carol Eisenberg (August 8, 2008). "Billionaire Charles Koch is a patron of conservative causes - but out of public eye". Muckety. Retrieved 2010-09-10. Koch Industries contributes more money to candidates through its political action committee (KochPAC) and its 80,000 employees, than any other oil or gas company - donating $1.15 million during the 2008 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The lion's share of that, or 85 percent, went to Republicans; 15 percent went to Democrats. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  17. "Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program". Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. Retrieved 2010-09-10. The Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program combines a paid public policy internship with two career skills seminars and weekly policy lectures. You'll gain real-world experience, take a crash course in market-based policy analysis, and hone your professional skills. The intensive ten-week program begins in June and includes a $1,500 stipend and a housing allowance.
  18. Roger Fox (2008). "The Science of Success: How Market-Based Management Built the World's Largest Private Company". Economic Affairs. 28 (2): 97–8. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0270.2008.836_5.x. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  19. "Epic struggle among Koch brothers ends". Houston Chronicle. 26 May 2001. p. 2.

External links

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