My great-grandad founded one of the largest meat producing companies - we're the 8th richest in the
EVEN if you have never heard of the Cargill family, you have definitely eaten food manufactured by their $165billion agricultural empire.
The Cargill-MacMillan family controls 90 percent of Cargill Inc., which is the largest private company in the world.
Cargill might just be the biggest corporation you have never heard of as it employs more than 155,000 people in 66 countries.
A whopping 22 percent of all domestic meat in the U.S. is supplied by Cargilll, which is also behind 25 percent of all U.S. grain exports.
Every egg sold at McDonald’s passes through a Cargill plant, while the company is also the only U.S. producer of Alberger process salt, commonly used in the fast food industry.
But this food mega power has a surprisingly humble backstory.
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GOING WITH THE GRAIN
It all began in 1865 in Conover, Iowa, when William Wallace (W.W.) Cargill purchased a grain storage house.
The Cargill and the MacMillan families came together when W.W.’s eldest daughter, Edna, married John H. MacMillan Sr, who owned several grain houses.
The business grew over the decades, with World War I providing record profits.
Cargill always had international intentions and began opening worldwide offices in the late 1920s.
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During World War II, the company boomed as it stored and transported grain and built important ships.
It wasn’t until 1979 that Cargill entered the meat processing industry, now known as Cargill Meat Solutions.
Throughout the decades, the company has followed an aggressive policy of consolidation, finding its way into the production of almost all major foods.
UNDER FIRE
Despite their massive wealth and power, the Cargills and the MacMillans have maintained a low profile in their personal lives.
But that hasn’t stopped their company from facing scrutiny in the form of labor rights lawsuits, U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuits, and environmental impact reports.
Cargill has even been named “the worst company in the world” by Mighty Earth due to its record on pollution and deforestation, accusations of child labor, and outbreaks at its plants during the Covid-19 pandemic.
KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
There are a total of 23 heirs, including 12 billionaire heirs, to the Cargill fortune.
W.W. Cargill’s great-grandchildren, Austen Cargill, James Cargill, and Marie Liebman, each own one-eighteenth of the family share.
Although the family is no longer involved in the company at an executive level, the corporation still provides the Cargills and MacMillans with massive paydays.
As of 2020, the Cargill-MacMillan family owned 88 percent of the company, which generated more than $150billion in revenue in 2022.
The individual net worths of W.W. Cargill’s great-grandchildren are estimated by Forbes to be $3.9billion each.
The family reportedly keeps 80 percent of Cargill Inc.'s net income inside the company for reinvestment annually, per Bloomberg.
But the Cargills aren’t the only family that has hoarded generations of wealth.
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One woman is continuing the $22billion oil empire her dad built from scratch.
And three siblings have plunged their inheritance into investments to accumulate a combined net worth of $15billion.
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