These are the 5 largest companies headquartered in the state of Kansas, as ranked by total revenue during the year from September 30, 2021 through September 30, 2022.
#1 Koch Industries ($125 Billion)
Koch Industries is a privately owned multinational petrochemical conglomerate headquartered in Wichita. However, the conglomerate also has subsidiaries involved in fertilizer production, paper manufacturing, electronic component manufacturing, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. Total revenue over the last 4 quarters was $125 billion.
| Official Company Name | Koch Industries, Inc. |
| Headquarters Address | 4111 East 37th St N Wichita, KS 67220 |
| Corporate Phone Number | 316-828-5500 |
| Website | kochind.com |
#2 Dairy Farmers of America ($20.3 Billion)
Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) is a milk marketing cooperative that markets and sells the raw milk and milk derivative products of its members to wholesale buyers. DFA members and other producer-customers account for 29% of total milk production in the U.S. Total revenue was approximately $20.3 billion.
Revenue Estimation Methodology: DFA revenue for the 4 quarters ended September 30, 2022 was estimated conservatively based on available data. For calendar year 2021, the co-op generated $19.3 billion in revenue. From October 2021 to October 2022, “food at home” price inflation was 12.4% and “food away from home” price inflation was 8.6%. With that in mind, we assume 5% revenue growth for these last 4 quarters versus for 2021.
| Official Company Name | DAIRY FARMERS OF AMERICA INC. |
| Headquarters Address | 1405 N. 98th St. Kansas City, KS 66111 |
| Corporate Phone Number | 816-801-6455 |
| Website | dfamilk.com |
#3 Seaboard Corporation ($11.0 Billion)
Seaboard is an agricultural and transportation conglomerate primarily engaged in hog production and pork processing in the U.S., commodity trading and grain processing in Africa and South America, cargo shipping services in the Americas and Caribbean, sugar and alcohol production in Argentina, and electrical power generation in the Dominican Republic.
The company is publicly traded on a second-tier exchange called “NYSE American” (formerly the “American Stock Exchange” or “Amex” and not to be confused with the more prestigious “NYSE”) under the ticker SEB. However, the majority of the company’s stock is owned directly or indirectly by the Bresky family.
Total revenue was $11.041 billion.
| Official Company Name | SEABOARD CORPORATION |
| State of Incorporation | Delaware |
| Headquarters Address | 9000 West 67th Street Merriam, KS 66202 |
| Corporate Phone Number | 913-676-8928 |
| 2021 Annual Report | 10-K |
| Investor Relations Website | Investor Relations |
#4 Associated Wholesale Grocers ($11.0 Billion)
Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is the largest U.S. cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets. That means AWG sources food from producers, negotiates bulk purchase pricing, and then sells the food to its member supermarkets. Additionally, AWG also operates subsidiaries which provide certain real estate and supermarket development services, print and digital marketing services, and various lines of merchandise. Essentially, the co-op tries to provide all the services that an independent supermarket needs to successfully compete against large competitors such as Walmart and Kroger.
Total revenue over the last four quarters was approximately $11.0 billion.
Revenue Estimation Methodology: Since AWG does not release quarterly financials, trailing 12 month revenue is estimated by combining several pieces of data. Firstly, we have the total revenue from the last 3 calendar years: 2021 revenue ($10.83 billion), 2020 revenue ($10.63 billion), and 2019 revenue ($9.67 billion). Secondly, we have the total personal consumption expenditures on food which has grown from $1.123 trillion (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in December 2020 to $1.239 trillion in December 2021 to $1.292 trillion in September 2022. Conservatively, these numbers are consistent with a trailing 12 month revenue of approximately $11.00 billion. However, the margin of error is large enough that the revenue may actually be higher, and AWG might in fact deserve the 3rd place position on this list.
| Official Company Name | ASSOCIATED WHOLESALE GROCERS, INC. |
| Headquarters Address | 5000 Kansas Avenue Kansas City, KS 66106 |
| Corporate Phone Number | 913-288-1000 |
| 2021 Annual Report | Annual Report |
| Website | awginc.com |
#5 Spirit Aerosystems ($4.8 Billion)
Not to be confused with Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE), Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE: SPR) designs & manufactures aircraft structures such as fuselages, nacelles, struts/pylons, wing structures, and flight control surfaces for use in both commercial and military aircraft. Total revenue was $4.780 billion.
Spirit Aerospace’s largest customers are Boeing and Airbus.
| Official Company Name | SPIRIT AEROSYSTEMS HOLDINGS, INC. |
| State of Incorporation | Delaware |
| Headquarters Address | 3801 South Oliver Wichita, KS 67210 |
| Corporate Phone Number | 316-526-9000 |
| 2021 Annual Report | 10-K |
| Investor Relations Website | Investor Relations |
Note: You may be wondering why certain companies with larger revenues than Spirit Aerosystems are not included on this list. The most likely reason is that those companies are not actually headquartered in the state of Kansas. Evergy, for instance, is actually headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri (with only a subsidiary actually headquartered in the state of Kansas). Garmin is headquartered in Switzerland. And Yellow Corporation recently moved its headquarters from Kansas to Nashville, Tennessee.
Additionally, Sprint has now merged with T-mobile which is headquartered in Washington state.