Agribusiness giant Cargill maintained its No. 1 spot on the list for the fourth year in a row despite a nearly 10% decline in FY24 revenue. This is the 37th year that Cargill has been ranked as the nation’s largest private company, since it was first listed in 1985. company. The three years in which Cargill wasn’t No. 1 – 2006, 2007 and 2020 – were surpassed this year by Koch Inc., the No. 2 company, and many other years as well. I did.
Most of these top private companies do not plan to change their positions and instead enjoy freedom from quarterly earnings reporting and reduced Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements.
That’s why companies on this list tend to maintain the status quo. Of the 275 companies on the 2024 list, 48% have been on the list in the past 10 years, including asset management firm Fidelity Investments and E&J Gallo Winery. Still, there is always some movement. This year, 26 companies newly entered the ranking, but 13 companies dropped out. New entrants include video game company Valve Corporation in 139th place and home builder Perry Homes in 242nd place. The company that fell the most was SRS Distribution, which ranked 55th last year. The building materials retailer was acquired by Home Depot in June for a total enterprise value of $18.25 billion.
Forbes has been tracking America’s largest private companies since 1985. This year’s ranking, with 275 companies participating, is the largest since 2008, before the threshold doubled to $2 billion. Companies are ranked by their most recently completed fiscal year’s revenue. For over 85% of list members, this means the calendar year 2023. The financial year of all other members ended in October 2024.
