Josefa Patel [4]
H-E-B [9]
H-E-B is not a real franchise, but is a “limited liability corporation”, a kind of corporate structure wherein the owners do not have the right to vote or to be on the board or to own any assets. H-E-B’s corporate form is governed by the rules of the Florida Corporation Commission. H-E-B’s board of directors is made up of a mayor, two commissioners, a secretary and two trustees. Their chairman is Michael Brown, H-E-B’s president since 2012. The board is divided between two thirds of the board members who are independent directors, and the remaining third are appointed. Each member of the board is allowed to represent only three of the five boroughs in which the company has various branches. Members of the board, both independent and appointed, have to meet regularly and have an annual meeting. The general assembly of the borough where the company has branches decides who the members of the board are and has the power to impose a salary cap. H-E-B’s elected commissioners have the right to be elected by the public; all boroughs and boards have the right to choose among their elected members those who can be included on H-E-B’s board. In some boroughs, the board may include other directors from another borough.
The corporate structure has become increasingly concentrated and has become a kind of pyramid-ish. Many of H-E-B’s board members came from business backgrounds, and the CEO is the vice president of the largest of the companies.
In June 2016, Bloomberg reported that H-E-B had become owned by one of the most highly placed American investors, Warren Buffett. He has the option to buy 80% of the outstanding shares in the company in order to “spend millions more… to expand its distribution network, broaden its advertising offerings and expand its customer service operations” in the U.S.
Sources:
[1] http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-h…
[2] http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/story/local/2016/06/01/h…
[3] http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/H-E-B-…
[4] http://www.