Working for the Man(y)

Largest employers

Employer	Number of People
US Department of Defense	3.2 million
People's Liberation Army, China	2.3 million
Walmart	2.1 million
McDonald's	1.9 million
UK National Health Service	1.7 million
China National Petroleum Corporation	1.6 million
State Grid Corporation of China	1.5 million
Indian Railways	1.4 million
Indian Armed Forces	1.3 million
Hon Hai Precision Factory (Foxconn)	1.2 million

Private down under

1. Visy Industries
2. Co-operative Bulk Handling
3. 7-Eleven Stores
4. BGC
5. Devondale Murray Goulburn
6. Teys Australia
7. Linfox
8. Hancock Prospecting
9. Hospitals Contribution Fund
10. Meriton Apartments

 

Private, see

So we know we can't buy shares in a private company, that only limited members can invest.
The company structure, though, is similar

• Chairman of Cargill is Gregory R Page, CEO and President is Dave MacLennan
• Cargill has fifty seven and a half billion dollars in assets
• Market value of Koch Industries places it among the largest family-owned companies in the world
• Albertsons has equity of $12.4 billion
• Dell shareholders voted to turn the company private
• Pricewaterhousecoopers securities
• Deloitte share price
• Mars had revenue in 2014 of $33 billion
• Employee-owned grocery chain Publix Super Markets pays dividends
• A warrant for Bechtel  
• C&S Wholesale Grocers derivatives
• Ernst & Young talk debentures, call and put options
• Reyes Holdings has 10,000-25,000 employees 
• H.E. Butt Grocery liabilities 
• Pilot Flying J bonds 
• Enterprise Holdings fund
• Cox Enterprises trust
• Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits Business Partner eXchange
• Cumberland Gulf Group index

Limited Lie Ability

Limited companies can be public or private, limited by shares or guarantee.

Privates  

largest private companies

1. Cargill
2. Koch Industries
3. Albertsons
4. Dell
5. PricewaterhouseCoopers
6. Deloitte
7. Mars
8. Publix Super Markets
9. Bechtel
10. C&S Wholesale Grocers

 

Present company excepted

You can grow Brazil nuts, sell bonbons, fix brake pads and not qualify as a company or feature on an index. The world of small business does deal with promissory notes but they are the ones taking the risk by declaring that they will pay back the loan within a certain time. Nothing to trouble the markets.

Just as there are private companies whose progress isn't tracked so there is a world of folk warily wandering into degrees of commerce, often without a degree in commerce. They have stalls at the market or share some space or they work in their garage.

For all these folks, as well as the PAYE workers, there is not the capacity or the infrastructure to form a company and float it. This doesn't stop them trading. Nor does it make it of much interest to them whether a company has a president or not.

How many sole traders are there? Who are the most successful owner-operators? Perhaps this is an area of curiosity since it does help keep a competitive edge, emulating others.