Koch Industries in the context of "Charles Koch"

Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) (1984–2004) was a conservative political group operating in the United States. It was established in 1984 by Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries. Ron Paul was appointed as the first chairman of the organization.

In 2002, the CSE designed its tea party movement website, though the movement did not take off until 2009. In 2003, Dick Armey became the chairman of CSE after retiring from Congress. In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into two new organizations, with Citizens for a Sound Economy being renamed as FreedomWorks, and Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation becoming Americans for Prosperity. Both organizations played key roles in the Tea party movement beginning in 2009.

This list includes the largest companies in the United States by revenue as of 2024, according to the Fortune 500 and Forbes rankings. The Fortune 500 list of companies includes only publicly traded companies, also including tax inversion companies. There are also corporations having foundation in the United States, such as corporate headquarters, operational headquarters and independent subsidiaries. The list excludes large privately held companies such as Cargill and Koch Industries whose financial data is not necessarily available to the public. However, this list does include several government-sponsored enterprises that were created by acts of Congress and later became publicly traded.

David Hamilton Koch (/koʊk/ KOHK; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held company in the United States. He became president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering in 1979 and became a co-owner of Koch Industries (along with elder brother Charles) in 1983. Koch served as an executive vice president of Koch Industries until he retired due to health issues in 2018.

Koch was a libertarian. He was the 1980 Libertarian candidate for Vice President of the United States and helped finance the campaign. He founded Citizens for a Sound Economy and donated to advocacy groups and political campaigns, most of which were Republican. Koch became a Republican in 1984; in 2012, he spent over $100 million in a failed bid to oppose the re-election of President Barack Obama.