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Chick-fil-A’s billionaire sons

Ray Frager//July 31, 2012

Chick-fil-A’s billionaire sons

By Ray Frager

//July 31, 2012

Chick-fil-A made a bit of news Tuesday, though if you compare it with the tide of coverage over the company president’s anti-gay-marriage stance, it was barely a ripple.

According to figures from a research firm, the privately held company is worth about $4.5 billion, Bloomberg News reports. Furthermore, Bloomberg says the sons of Chick-fil-A founder Samuel Truett Cathy, Dan and Donald Cathy, each own one-third of the company, making them “hidden billionaires” in the words of the article.

Though the elder Cathy appears on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans (at $1.1 billion), neither of his sons does.

Dan Cathy made headlines when his position against same-sex marriage was widely reported a couple of weeks ago.

It remains to be seen whether the controversy will have any effect, negative or positive, on chicken sandwich sales, but Chick-fil-A — which has 59 restaurants in Maryland — ranked as the industry leader in sales per outlet. With an average gross of $2.9 million per restaurant in 2011, Chick-fil-A beat No. 2 McDonald’s by $400,000.

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