Last Updated on 06/29/2021 by GS Staff
Q: Is Meijer publicly traded?
Meijer is a family-owned private company. According to Forbes, it is the 18th largest private company in the United States. Since Meijer is private, it is not publicly traded. It does not trade on a stock exchange such as the Nasdaq or NYSE.
Who Owns Meijer?
Meijer is owned by the Meijer family with Hank Meijer being the chairman of the board. The company was started in 1934 by Hendrik Meijer in Michigan. It currently employs about 70,000 people and has over 240 supercenters that sell groceries, general merchandise, and more. Meijer has a strong concentration of stores in Michigan, however, it also operates in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Estimated revenues of the company as of the fiscal year ended January 30, 2020, were $18.1 billion. Interestingly, Meijer invented the supercenter format of stores that was later mimicked by Walmart.
Will Meijer Ever Be Publicly Traded?
We have no information to indicate that Meijer will ever be public to where investors can purchase shares of its stock. The company has been private for 87 years and likely will remain so for the foreseeable future. Fred Meijer, the son of the founder, once stated, “We’ve had umpteen offers to take us public. We’ve all agreed we would rather do our own thing.” (Source: Mlive).
Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, did attempt to purchase the company in the 1970s. Walton reportedly called a few times over a two-week period to make a deal, but Meijer never took the call. Since Walmart never purchased Meijer, we can only speculate if Meijer stores would have been rebranded to Walmart stores or stayed branded as Meijer under Walmart ownership. Currently, Midwest grocery shopping would be a bit different had Walmart acquired Meijer.
Publicly Traded Meijer Competitors
Since you cannot purchase shares of Meijer stock, here are some competitors of the company that are publicly traded:
- Walmart – Walmart (WMT) trades on the NYSE. It has approximately 11,440 stores and clubs (Sam’s Club) across the world. Well over 2 million people are employed by the company to give you an idea of how enormous the company is. The fiscal year 2020 revenue was $559 billion. It is the largest U.S. retailer with Amazon coming in second.
- Kroger – Kroger (KR) is a popular national grocery store in the United States. It is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and operates 2,750 stores under the Kroger name and subsidiary names. Some of the notable subsidiaries of Kroger are Harris Teeter, Ralphs, Smith’s, and Food 4 Less. The famed billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, holds over a $1 billion stake in the company through Berkshire Hathaway at the time of this article. The total revenue of the company was approximately $132.5 billion as of the fiscal year ended 1/31/2021.
- Target – The company trades under the symbol TGT. Its focus over the past years has been on general merchandise. However, they have increased their assortment of grocery items recently to be more competitive in this area. The company has more than 1,900 stores and a 2020 revenue of $93.6 billion.
Sources:
Image Credit – rust.bucket/flickr
“At 75, Meijer Family Still Controls Retailer’s Destiny.” Mlive, The Grand Rapids Press, 28 June 2009, www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/2009/06/post_3.html.