(BUSINESS) Wichita, Kansas-based conglomerate; pronounced "
coke." A closely held corporation; owns Flint Hills Resources, a major refinery operator.
One of the most secretive business enterprises in the Western world. The financial press is not allowed to publish any financial statistics on the firm
whatever (unlike, say, Bechtel or Fidelity Investments, whose financials appear in Hoovers listings). Basically, it converts oil wealth into political influene through a huge web of "foundations."
Koch Industries operates enormous oil refineries in Alaska,
Minnesota, and Texas; owns 4000 miles of pipeline; Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups,
Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra (fiber used to make Spandex).
Koch Family Foundations funnel immense amount of money to climate
change denial groups, although they manage to remain secretive about that also. Both David and
Charles Koch have assets easily in excess of $8 billion, and they are the largest political donors of the oil and gas industry. Mostly their "charitable foundations" promote far-right propaganda.
In the spring of
2010, University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten
air polluters in the
United States.
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation (formerly Citizens for a Sound Economy) and the Cato Institute are creations of the Koch Family Foundations.
