**Private Businesses Are the Hidden Wealth Engine**

Economists Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick estimate that roughly **3 million Americans hold more than $65 trillion in wealth** as owners of privately held businesses. About **1.7 million have built fortunes of at least $10 million** this way. For every public-company CEO, there are more than 1,000 private-business owners worth over $25 million.

The scale was hard to see because most private companies are **pass-through businesses**, including S corporations and partnerships. Their profits appear on owners’ individual tax returns, while the IRS historically kept personal and business data in separate silos.

The businesses behind these fortunes are often mundane rather than venture-backed. They include car dealers, HVAC contractors, dentists, restaurants, distributors, and construction companies. Zidar also points to owners of a toilet-paper distributor, a trash-bag maker that sold for **$300 million**, and a major vehicle-repossession company.

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