Mountaire Corp. Reclaims Top Spot Among Arkansas’ Largest Private Companies

Nineteen private companies owned and headquartered in Arkansas are believed to have had revenue of more than $1 billion in 2024.

That’s two more than last year.

Mountaire Corp. of Little Rock has returned to the top spot on the annual list of the state’s largest private companies with revenue last year of $3.8 billion. It was No. 2 last year, having confirmed a general figure of at least $3 billion in revenue in 2023. Mountaire is among the least visible of the state’s large companies. Only 45 of its 10,000 employees work in Arkansas. The rest work at poultry and food processing plants along the East Coast.

Last year’s largest private company, Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield, slipped back below $3 billion in a tough year. The state’s dominant health insurance carrier, with almost 3,000 employees in the state, revealed in a public filing that it ended 2024 with a net loss of $226.2 million.

The two companies that crossed the billion-dollar mark in 2024 are No. 17 Arkansas Children’s Inc., operator of pediatric hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, and No. 19 Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., provider of wholesale electricity to the state’s electric distribution cooperatives.

Arkansas Business introduced its annual list of the state’s largest private companies in 1988. The list originally sought to find the 50 largest companies that are owned and headquartered in Arkansas, but it was expanded to 75 companies in 1996. The list seeks to be comprehensive and authoritative, but the opacity of the private companies means that it has never been either. More than 140 companies were surveyed for this year’s list. Of the 75 that made the final cut, 63 either volunteered revenue data or reported it publicly. The rest are estimates, by Arkansas Business or a trade journal, and are footnoted as such.

Little Rock general contractor Kinco Constructors is No. 75, smallest to make the cut, for the second consecutive year. Its revenue increased by almost 20% last year, making the point of entry to the list $148.1 million.

In and Out

Two companies are new to this year’s list: No. 47 Southwest Power Pool of Little Rock, with revenue of $282.9 million, and No. 53 ARCare of Augusta, with revenue estimated at $250 million. Both are nonprofit organizations, as are Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield, hospital systems, electric cooperatives and No. 64 Arkansas Federal Credit Union. Both should also have been ranked in past years.

ARCare’s 2024 revenue was estimated based on the $236.7 million in revenue it reported to the IRS on Form 990 for 2023. Its 2024 form has not yet been released publicly, and efforts to contact the organization were unsuccessful.

The addition of SPP and ARCare displaced Life & Specialty Ventures LLC, which does business as USAble Life, and Cal-Ark International Inc., both of Little Rock.

USAble Life, which had revenue of $735 million in 2023, is no longer eligible for the list after a shift in ownership. The insurance carrier is a joint venture of various Blue Cross & Blue Shield plans around the country, but only about 30% is now owned in Arkansas, according to spokeswoman Christine Trimble.

Cal-Ark, which was No. 73 last year, simply didn’t make the cut. It reported 2024 revenue of $125.4 million, a small decrease from 2023.

To suggest private companies that should be surveyed for future lists, email Editor Hunter Field at hfield@abpg.com.