Eventual Exit
Charles Koch, who is known for his long-term planning, told Forbes in 2012 that preparations were already under way for his eventual exit from Koch Industries.
“We have the best leaders and the most depth of leadership we’ve ever had,” he said in a rare interview. “If I get hit by a truck, maybe it would get me out of the way and it would go better.”
Chase Koch, who’s in his early 40s, has been schooled in his father’s libertarian views. During an appearance before a Rotary Club in Wichita in November 2016, he noted how his father insisted that he and his sister take economics and philosophy lessons from him every Sunday.
“This dates back to when I was six years old,” he said, according to a report in the Wichita Eagle newspaper. “We’d listen to books on tape from Milton Friedman.”
When he was 15, Koch told the audience, he was sent off to his first summer job at a smelly company cattle feedlot in western Kansas. He’s now president of a subsidiary, Koch Disruptive Technologies, that helps build and invest in high-growth technology companies, according to a Koch Industries biography.
Levin, the donor from New Jersey, said she thinks the network will remain popular with conservatives even after both brothers are gone, so long as it remains exclusive.
“They just want to be connected to this super-powerful, elite thing,” she said. “If I weren’t in, I would certainly would want in.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.