So
while I have been away it seems as if the Koch brothers have been making the
headlines. One I forgot last year was David
Koch made it finally possible for MIT researchers to have a daycare center that
would double the size of the daycare facility population (providing daycare for
126 children) and will open in August 2013. Actually the whole idea came about
when a post-doc woman was sitting next to David Koch at dinner one night and
talked about the state of the daycare at MIT.
In
another Koch related news David Koch donated $65 million to the
groundbreaking ceremony video can be seen here (Koch makes some remarks at around the
1:26 mark). Construction won’t be done until the fall of 2014. I always wonder
why liberals hate David and Charles Koch so much when they give to causes like
the arts that liberals and the general public tend to enjoy.
Bill
Koch has been in the news as well. Bloomberg had a story a few
weeks ago discussing the false imprisonment suit. In probably one of the most
bizarre Koch lawsuits to date former Oxbow employee Kirby Martensen claims he
was held against his will. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley dismissed the lawsuit
Martensen brought however claimed that she didn’t buy Koch’s arguments. The
case is being retried and the name is Martensen v. Koch.
In
somewhat Koch Industries related news Daniel Fisher of Forbes had an excellent
story (his
writing is superb) on the Marshall family (who are still to this day part owners
of Koch Industries) describing how J. Howard Marshall II (the guy married to
Anna Nichole Smith) and his family are having a fight not between family
members but also the IRS for gift taxes owed. Last year Bloomberg discovered through
tax documents that Elaine Marshall owned 15% of Koch Industries which gave her
a net worth of $12.7 billion. It is somewhat interesting that if a few court decisions
had gone a certain way Anna Nichole Smith could have ended up with ownership of
Koch Industries. Fisher discovered some great primary documents like this tax
court document for J. Howard Marshall II.
The
most recent news that has been talked about is Koch Industries maybe purchasing
the L.A. Times. It would be interesting to see market based management
journalism. First I really don’t know how true this rumor really is. Also
newspapers have been a dying breed as revenue is at an all-time
low (even
after adjusting for inflation). The Koch’s grandfather Frederick Koch did
run a news paper in Quanah, Texas. Speaking of Koch Industries I forgot
to point out this article
(again by superb journalist Daniel Fisher) which describes how Koch Industries
reinvests 90% of their earnings into the company while correctly pointing out
that both Charles and David may have issues down the road in terms of
succession planning. With a net worth of $34 billion each and 84% ownership in
Koch Industries it makes estate planning difficult even though Charles claims
they have been doing estate planning for years. Actually the serious estate tax
bill will come not when Charles and David pass on but when their wives pass on.
Lastly
and maybe one of my favorite parts is that Bill Koch actually granted an
interview (7
pages worth) to 5280 (a Denver magazine). It seems like Wild Bill is spending a
lot of time on the ranch working out details. Koch seems to be putting forth a
lot of effort in getting the history correct and everything historically
accurate. The town will be intended to be a private getaway for him and his
family. The goal of his town is to all have a place to come to as they grow
older and have their own families. After decades of battles between Charles,
David, and Bill I guess Bill has come to realize that fighting between family
members really doesn’t lead to anything good. Bill Koch’s twin brother
David Koch apparently was interviewed too and admitted in his younger days he
was more interested in the popular people on campus, the girls, and the
athletes. David also said that Bill was the more serious student. Bill like his
brothers David and Charles had to work on the ranch (beginning at age 13 and
worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week). Bill in the interview also discusses
the incident with Martensen and said Oxbow became aware in 2011 of possible misconduct
by Martensen and through an internal investigation (e-mails, recordings, and
over 4 million items in total) Martensen was planning a scheme. When confronted
about the wrongdoings Martensen admitted to some of it. The whole ordeal sounds
bizarre about detaining an employee and a trial, judge, and jury will have to
decide the outcome. Toward the end of the interview Bill mentions he wants to
live the rest of his life in peace, spend more time with his family, and hang
out in his own town. The governor of Colorado would like Koch to open the town
to high paying visitors and school children (Koch is unsure if this is the
right move however how often will his family even “use” the city”?”
Bill
Koch is probably one of the most interesting people I have ever read about. The
Koch brothers are fascinating as well. Whatever side of the political spectrum
one is on I think people can agree they are interesting, controversial, and I
have learned so much from studying the history of the family. I can say one thing
is for sure there probably will never be a family as interesting as this.
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