Kiewit: An Uncommon Company

Rodengen writes commissioned corporate histories, and this is his volume on Peter Kiewit Sons, the Omaha-based construction firm that became one of the largest contractors in North America.

The reference has not verified the specific contents of this volume. What the subject establishes is a history of a construction company founded in Omaha in 1884, built substantially by Peter Kiewit from the 1930s, which grew through heavy civil construction including highways, dams, mining and infrastructure projects across the United States and Canada.

Kiewit is of interest to investors for two reasons. It is employee-owned, with shares held by working managers and repurchased when they leave, a structure that removes outside shareholders and that has been credited with the firm's long-horizon behaviour and its conservatism in bidding. And Peter Kiewit was a figure in Omaha business alongside Warren Buffett, who has spoken about him and about the company's ownership model.

Commissioned corporate histories are promotional documents produced with company cooperation and funding, and should be read as such. The reference cannot confirm this volume's specific claims or its treatment of the company's difficulties. Readers interested in employee ownership as a structure should seek independent sources on it, and those interested in the construction industry's economics should look to analytical treatments rather than to a company-produced history.