There is a reason, a story, a motivation behind the success of every man but when you think about what actually made the Koch brothers so rich, there is surely a series of incidents which have contributed in making them one of the most richest people of the world. Though these two brothers do not need an introduction in anyway, it is important to brief our new readers that Charles Koch is a reputed business industrialist with extraordinary management skills. He is one of the richest men in the world and a generous humanitarian. He is credited for transforming his father’s small oil business into a world renowned oil production industry.
On the other hand, David Koch is the Executive Vice President of Koch Industries. He is the richest man in New York and fourth wealthiest man in US. His craving for increasing the family’s business and getting hold of all the lavish homes has made him quite prominent in US. He has contributed a lot for cancer research, development of medical centers and support of educational institutions.
Let us find out what made them so rich and famous!
Koch Industries
The two brothers Charles Koch and David Koch own virtually all of Koch Industries, a conglomerate, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, whose annual revenues are estimated to be a hundred billion dollars. The company has grown spectacularly since their father, Fred, died, in 1967, and the brothers took charge. The Kochs operate oil refineries in Alaska, Texas, and Minnesota, and control some four thousand miles of pipeline. Koch Industries owns Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra, among other products. Forbes ranks it as the second-largest private company in the country, after Cargill, and its consistent profitability has made David and Charles Koch among the richest men in America. Their combined fortune of thirty-five billion dollars is exceeded only by those of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. The company has 50,000 employees in US while anothe 20,000 in 59 countries.
The New Yorker and The Koch Brothers
Kochs funded a proto–Tea Party movement
The brothers’ first step into the political arena came in 1980, when they were the key backers of Libertarian Party candidate Ed Clark’s run for president, a campaign that “presaged the Tea Party movement.” David Koch even became Clark’s vice presidential nominee though this was mainly to overcome the legal limits on campaign donations. Despite the fact that David “spent more than $2 million on the effort,” the ticket received just 1 percent of the vote in the election that made Ronald Reagan president.
Global warming and Billionaire Brothers’ War against Obama
In a study released this year, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. The brothers deny the allegations of polluting environment.
Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies from healthcare reform to the economic stimulus program that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.
Kochs as Top Donors
David Koch has become a top donor to the arts and sciences in recent years, particularly in his home city of New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have all benefited from his largesse. The New Yorker’s Mayer suggests that those donations might influence the recipient institutions, noting that much to the frustration of some climate scientists , global warming exhibits in the Smithsonian’s David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins “uncannily echo the Koch message.” The museum dismisses these charges.
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David Koch is the Executive Vice President of Koch Industries. He is the richest man in New York and fourth wealthiest man in US. His craving for increasing the family’s business and getting hold of all the lavish homes has made him quite prominent in US. He has contributed a lot for cancer research, development of medical centers and support of educational institutions.
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