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Big companies · 12 min

How a big company is built

A company with hundreds of thousands of workers still has someone at the top. Or does it? Let's take a big company apart: who owns it, who runs it, and how it's split into pieces.

BOARDCEOSTOREFACTORYCLOUDFINANCELEGALHRTECH$$
Ticket 01 · The guess

Who owns Costco?

Costco, the warehouse club, belongs to whoever holds its shares. There were 444 million sharessec.gov ·2025 in November 2025, held by people, pension funds and investment funds.

What share of all of them did its single biggest shareholder own?

50%
0%100%
Words to know

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Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

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Sources and every number (1)

Sources

  • Costco Wholesale Corporation proxy statement (Schedule 14A) for the January 2026 annual meeting · Costco Wholesale Corporation (filed with the U.S. SEC), 2025

Every number

  • 9.79%sec.gov ·2025 · Share of Costco's common stock beneficially owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc., its largest holder, in early November 2025 (the proxy statement's table, from Vanguard's Form 13F).
  • 7.83%sec.gov ·2025 · Share of Costco's common stock beneficially owned by BlackRock, Inc., its second-largest holder, in early November 2025 (the proxy statement's table, from BlackRock's Form 13F).
  • 52,258 sharessec.gov ·2025 · Shares of Costco beneficially owned by its CEO, Ron Vachris, on the record date in early November 2025. The proxy statement marks it as less than one percent.
  • 444 million sharessec.gov ·2025 · Shares of Costco common stock outstanding on the record date in early November 2025. Each share has one vote.
  • 0.01%sec.gov ·2025 · Worked out: the CEO's shares ÷ all shares outstanding, on the record date in early November 2025.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Big companies
Skip to the lesson
Back to the home page and map, from TryOwning · Big companies · Start here
Part 1 of 3Part 1 of 3, 0 done

Big companies · 12 min

How a big company is built

A company with hundreds of thousands of workers still has someone at the top. Or does it? Let's take a big company apart: who owns it, who runs it, and how it's split into pieces.

BOARDCEOSTOREFACTORYCLOUDFINANCELEGALHRTECH$$
Ticket 01 · The guess

Who owns Costco?

Costco, the warehouse club, belongs to whoever holds its shares. There were 444 million sharessec.gov ·2025 in November 2025, held by people, pension funds and investment funds.

What share of all of them did its single biggest shareholder own?

50%
0%100%
Words to know

Spot something wrong?

Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

We'll also send this page, the lesson, ticket 1, so we can find it. Nothing else. Privacy

·
Sources and every number (1)

Sources

  • Costco Wholesale Corporation proxy statement (Schedule 14A) for the January 2026 annual meeting · Costco Wholesale Corporation (filed with the U.S. SEC), 2025

Every number

  • 9.79%sec.gov ·2025 · Share of Costco's common stock beneficially owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc., its largest holder, in early November 2025 (the proxy statement's table, from Vanguard's Form 13F).
  • 7.83%sec.gov ·2025 · Share of Costco's common stock beneficially owned by BlackRock, Inc., its second-largest holder, in early November 2025 (the proxy statement's table, from BlackRock's Form 13F).
  • 52,258 sharessec.gov ·2025 · Shares of Costco beneficially owned by its CEO, Ron Vachris, on the record date in early November 2025. The proxy statement marks it as less than one percent.
  • 444 million sharessec.gov ·2025 · Shares of Costco common stock outstanding on the record date in early November 2025. Each share has one vote.
  • 0.01%sec.gov ·2025 · Worked out: the CEO's shares ÷ all shares outstanding, on the record date in early November 2025.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Big companies