Who Owns Costco?

Costco, also known as Costco Wholesale Corporation, is a membership warehouse club chain. As of 2010, Costco is actually the largest warehouse club chain in the United States. It is also the ninth largest retailer in the world. The store sells a wide variety of items, including food, home supplies, technology, and furniture.

There are a number of key people involved in running Costco (as of 2010):

• President - W. Craig Jelinek
• Chairman - Jeffrey Brotman
• CEO - James Sinegal
• CFO - Richard Galanti

Since Costco is a publicly-traded company, there is no one person that owns the corporation. Rather, anyone who is a shareholder of Costco owns a portion of the company. The greater the amount of shares an individual owns, the larger the portion that he or she owns of the company.

History of Costco

Costco was founded in the early eighties by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman. The two owners had both been involved in the retail world, and wanted to try their hand at their own store. Sinegal had worked for other wholesale distribution stores, such as the Price Club or FedMart. Brotman had been exposed to the retail world through his family. The store officially opened its doors on September 15, 1983 in Seattle, Washington. 

Costco’s Business Model

The main idea behind Costco is to sell products in bulk. Costco can offer very low prices for products by selling these products in large quantities. The size of a number of the products are thus often much larger than grocery stores sell. For example, granola bars might come in packages of forty at Costco rather than the box of six that the grocery store might sell.

To shop at Costco, you have to be a member of the store. As of 2010, the membership fee for Costco is fifty dollars per year for a Gold Star or Business membership, and one hundred dollars per year for a Executive membership.

After Costco Opened its Doors

The store was quite successful from the beginning. More locations opened throughout the eighties. By the early nineties, Costco was a nationwide store. In 1993, Costco merged with the Price Club. The newly formed company was called PriceCostco. PriceCostco had over two hundred stores throughout the country when it was first formed. In 1997, the company changed its name from PriceCostco to Costco Wholesale. 

Services of Costco

Costco has expanded in the amount of products and the types of products that the store offers. Currently, the store offers food, as well as electronics, clothing, jewelry, tires, liquor, and even caskets. Some of the Costco locations even have gasoline stations.

How Large Is Costco

As of 2010, Costco employs approximately one hundred and forty two thousand individuals. The store has over fifty million members, and had a net profit of over a billion dollars for the fiscal year of 2009.

On the Fortune 500 List, Costco is listed as twenty four. Currently, Costco has over five hundred locations. The majority of these locations are in the United States, however Costco is an international company. Costco is currently located in the following countries:

• United States
• Canada
• Mexico
• United Kingdom
• Japan
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Australia

Costco’s Major Competitors

The major competitors for Costco are other wholesale stores. Currently, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club are the major competitors for Costco. Sam’s Club currently has more locations in the United States, but Costco has outperformed Sam’s Club in the recent years. BJ’s is located mainly on the east coast of the United States and in the state of Ohio. Although BJ’s is a smaller company, it is growing in size.