How did david koch make his money

They are the ones that keep us in business. In short, ill-gained profits were verboten at Koch Industries. His comrade at Number Six? His brother, David. Put an even simpler way: Koch Industries is really, kcoh, really good at making money. How did david koch make his money is what generates good profit. Of course, critics will buy none of what Charles Koch is selling in his book. The anti-establishment Koch political network started to gain steam under hus Republican. They just think the Democrats and their high-spending pals are worse. Advisers are quick to point out that not all of that will be explicitly political.

The Face of Big Money

Scott Horsley. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. The Koch brothers are a ripe target: political plutocrats who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in a decades-long effort to reshape the country and the Republican Party. They’ve used their vast wealth to build a hydra-headed network of think tanks, lobbying shops, and «astroturf» advocacy groups to advance a philosophy that conveniently overlaps with the economic interests of their Wichita-based corporation. None of this is exactly a secret, though. Jane Mayer’s New Yorker article and subsequent book shined a bright spotlight on how the Kochs and other wealthy patrons use their Dark Money to wield outsize influence on American politics. What Kochland , the new book from Christopher Leonard, adds to the story is not so much an account of the ways in which the brothers spend their money, but rather, a richly reported tale of how they make it — the inner workings of one of the nation’s largest private corporations. To be sure, the Koch brothers aren’t entirely self-made. They got a sizable head start from their father. Fred Koch, a co-founder of the far-right John Birch Society, assembled his own mini-empire of ranches, factories and oil pipelines. But Charles and David Koch supersized this fortune. They added a Minnesota refinery that was well-positioned to turn cheap, Canadian crude oil into pricey gasoline for the fuel-thirsty Midwest. Over time, they expanded into fertilizer, paper products, options trading and even greeting cards. The Kochs make big bets, and they have the patience to wait for results. They play the long game in politics, too. Koch Industries «thought on a timeline of ten or twenty years, not twelve to eighteen months. And, unlike virtually any other private equity firm, Koch’s group only had two shareholders to answer to: Charles and David Koch. Two other brothers, Bill and Fred, were bought out in After seven years of research, Leonard is able to tell this story with an insider’s vantage point. We hear from refinery operators, warehouse workers, options traders and whistleblowers. The prose is occasionally over the top. Do we really need to know about the white marble slabs between urinals in the men’s room of a Senate office building?

Thank you!

A: Charles and David Koch, ages 78 and 74, are billionaire brothers who helped create a broad network of nonprofit groups that control hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into politics. Through their deep pockets, they are reshaping politics with an uncompromising agenda of reducing regulation, advancing libertarian ideas, promoting free-market Republican candidates and ousting Democrats. They have two other brothers, William and Frederick, who aren’t involved in the effort. A: The Kochs inherited their father’s company in Kansas, and turned Wichita-based Koch Industries into the second-largest privately held company in the nation. The conglomerate makes a wide range of products including Dixie cups, chemicals, jet fuel, fertilizer, electronics, toilet paper and much more. William and Frederick cashed out in and no longer have a stake in the company. Among its components: hiring and retaining people with the right values, and giving employees a bigger voice in decision-making. The company’s growth strategy also includes reinvesting 90 percent of earnings. A: That’s the big question. It’s unanswered because the Kochs channel lots of money into nonprofit groups that don’t have to identify their donors. However, not all of that money came from the Kochs themselves. A: Family patriarch Fred Koch, who built refineries in the Soviet Union in the s, became convinced of the evils of communism and instilled in his sons an aversion to government intrusion. As David said of their father in a interview with The Wichita Eagle newspaper in Kansas, he «was extraordinarily fearful of our government becoming much more socialistic and domineering. So from the time we were teenagers to the present, we’ve been very concerned and worried about our government evolving into a very controlling, socialist type of government. A primer on the Koch brothers and their role in politics. Continue Reading Below.

An Electoral Force

David, 79 years old, stepped down from his role with the company in due to health issues, while Charles, 83, remains Chairman and CEO. Koch Industries is the second-largest privately held company in the U. This has helped position the Koch family as the second richest family in the world, behind only the Walton family Walmart owners. At the age of 27, a chemical engineer by the name of Fred Koch developed a new and more efficient process for turning crude oil into gasoline. An MIT graduate, Fred had invented a new method of refining gasoline from viscous and common heavy oil. After a string of lawsuits from Universal Oil Products, which had patented and was licensing a similar technique, Fred brought his innovation to the Soviet Union He returned to America shortly after to start a family. A little more than a decade after making his discovery, Koch used the improved process to start an oil refinery business of his own. Charles was also involved with the group until , a year after his father died. Since then, the company has expanded its operations beyond oil refining into industries such as agriculture and consumer goods manufacturing. As of June , Koch Industries had , employees worldwide. All of Fred Koch’s four sons have become billionaires as a result of the unprecedented growth of the family business. The two brothers are the only members of the family’s second generation who still play an active role in the management of the company. There are four Koch brothers, but only two—Charles and David—remain owners of Koch Industries, with Frederick and William having sold their stakes in He was 32 years old at the time and had been working in the company for a little more than five years.

Politics and Profits

InDavid H. The how did david koch make his money earned 1. But in the years since that failed run, Mr. Koch, who died on Friday, and his brother Charles, found far greater power and influence outside of elected office as they became two kochh the most prominent faces in a new era of megadonors in American politics, building a political apparatus that, at its peak, rivaled the Republican Party.

She noted that they were especially effective working on narrow issues while pursuing a larger strategy. If not now, when? Along the way, the Kochs took full advantage after the Supreme Court sided with Citizens United and other rulings loosened spending rules. They became the most feared, recognized and mobey by the left Republican donors in the nation, surpassing even Karl Rove, as the boogeyman of Republican big money.

Schlapp said. He said their direct impact on politics was less pronounced. Part of that mixed legacy is linked to the rise of Mr. Some prominent alumni of Koch-funded organizations do hold high-ranking positions in the Trump administration.

Potter said. Hks developments, he said, gave average Americans a deep sense of disenfranchisement. Parts of the Koch network have at one point touched on nearly every facet of the conservative movement.

A national political group, Americans for Prosperity, established outposts in the majority of states across the country. The agenda for makw Koch seminar was revealing. Inthe Koch network was at the center of the successful Hhow efforts to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats.

A network of six Koch-linked nonprofits had paid to air nearly 44, television spots by August of that year, according to a study by the Center for Public Integrity. Among the recent Koch brothers pursuits has been jis mass transit projects around the country. The Kochs were perhaps at their peak inas the last Republican presidential primary was heating up.

But the Kochs did not get their pick. Instead, Mr. The Kochs how did david koch make his money spend millions supporting Mr. In mid, Charles Koch, without naming Mr.

Trump quickly responded. Trump wrote on Mondy. In a shift last year, the Koch network ran ads hiss support of a Democratic senator, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who was being challenged by makr staunch Trump supporter, Kevin Cramer. Cramer won the election. This year, the network has signaled plans to stay out of the White House contest entirely. Yet even as the Kochs have receded somewhat from electoral politics, alumni of their network continue to hold sway in Mr.

A former top Koch operative, Marc Short, for instance, served as Mr. Krumholz said of the Kochs. It was pervasive.

‘A Historical Power Player’

David Koch is dead at age 79his family announced Friday. Before David Koch’s death, the Koch brothers were two of the richest people on earth. They have also been two of the most controversial billionaires, at least when it comes to their political contributions. Jane Mayer’s book, «Dark Money,» outlined how the two Kansas natives reportedly used their fortunes to forge a formidable web of political influence, with the intent of promoting their libertarian values. Read more : Billionaire industrialist and conservative mega-donor David Koch has died at age Still, that never stopped the Kochs from clashing with figures on the right, most notably President Donald Trump. The two brothers spoke out against Trump’s tariffs in the past. So how did the Kochs come to amass astounding wealth and wield such great influence? The answer lies within the history of their family business, Koch Industries. Source: Sons of WichitaDark Money. Source: Lehman Brothers Collection. Source: The New York Times. Source: Forbes. Source: BloombergBloombergForbesForbes. Source: ForbesForbes. Source: Dark Money. Source: Dark MoneyOpen Secrets. Source: Politico. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person’s head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Login Subscribe. My Account.