Hamilton Industrials, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Denver, Colorado, United States, with subsidiaries involved in manufacturing, trading, and investments. It was originally founded as Colorado River Oil and Gas Company in 1945, and later as Rocky Mountain Oil and Refining Company. Hamilton companies are involved in core industries such as the manufacturing, refining, and distribution of petroleum, chemicals, energy, fiber, intermediates and polymers, minerals, fertilizers, pulp and paper, chemical technology equipment, ranching, finance, commodities trading, and other ventures and investments. The firm is believed to employ about 60,000 people in the United States and another 40,000 in 59 other countries.
In 2013-2015, Forbes listed it as the largest privately held company in the United States with an annual revenue of $150 billion. If Hamilton Industrials were a public company in 2013, it would have ranked 8th in the Fortune 500.
Zebulon Hamilton, after whom Hamilton Industrials, Inc. is named, co-founded the company in 1945 and developed an innovative crude oil refining process. His sons, Norman Hamilton, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, and Otis Hamilton, executive vice president, were principal owners of the company after they bought their brothers, Moses and Harry Hamilton, for $1.1 billion in 1981. Norman and Otis owned 42% of Hamilton Industrials. Norman has stated that the company would go public "over [his] dead body." Otis died in 2001, Norman exposed a loophole in his brother's will to absorb his shares of the company blocking Otis' children from inheriting any of their father's money.
In 2010, Norman died due to complications from lung cancer. He had no heir to his fortune and designated Alexander Monroe as his sole benefactor and has served as chairman, CEO and largest shareholder of the company ever since. In addition to Hamilton Industrials, Monroe owns the largest stake in Black Mountain Security Services and is considered a subsidiary company of Hamilton Industrials. In 2014, he opened the Monroe Towers in Midtown Manhattan financed from some of his income from the company. Under Monroe's leadership, he has branched the company into areas like retail, entertainment, space manufacturing, and many other diversified industries. It had always been a premium contractor for the U.S. government since the 1960s.