Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 136, 10 Nov 2026); all claims sourced

2026-11-10T17:16:15Z

New profile (Forbes real-time rank 136, 10 Nov 2026); all claims sourced

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{{short description|'''American businessman; executive chairman of C&S Wholesale Grocers and chief executive of the warehouse-automation company Symbotic'''}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rick Cohen
| birth_date = {{Start date|1952|07|25}} (Forbes)
| nationality = American
| residence = Keene, New Hampshire (Forbes)
| occupation = Businessman
| known_for = [[C&S Wholesale Grocers]]; [[Symbotic]]
| children = 3 (Forbes)
| education = Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (BS accounting, 1974)
}}

'''Richard B. "Rick" Cohen''' (born 25 July 1952) is an American businessman. He is executive chairman of [[C&S Wholesale Grocers]], the family grocery wholesaler based in Keene, New Hampshire, which Forbes describes as the largest in the United States, and chair and chief executive of the warehouse-robotics company [[Symbotic]].<ref name="fp_rick_cohen">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/rick-cohen.json Forbes profile record for Rick Cohen (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/rick-cohen/)] ''Forbes'', live record, read 10 November 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.</ref><ref name="sym26">Symbotic Inc., [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1837240/000119312526015381/sym-20260116.htm Definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A) for the 2026 annual meeting] ''U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR)'', January 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.</ref> Forbes says most of the family's wealth comes from Symbotic, whose biggest customer is [[Walmart]].<ref name="fp_rick_cohen" /><ref name="bg24">Aaron Pressman, [https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/01/03/business/rick-cohen-symbotic-cs-grocers-new-hampshire/ How a billionaire grocer from New Hampshire built one of Boston’s biggest tech companies] ''The Boston Globe'', 3 January 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.</ref> On 10 November 2026 the [[Forbes]] Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Cohen and his family 136th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$19.8 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as warehouse automation.<ref name="fp_rick_cohen" /><ref name="ForbesRTB">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/rtb/0/position/true.json?fields=rank,uri,personName,finalWorth,source,countryOfCitizenship,state,city,industries&limit=300 Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed] ''Forbes'', live; downloaded 10 November 2026 13:47 UTC, accessed 10 November 2026.</ref> In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Cohen and his family 97th, at US$26.3 billion.<ref name="ForbesAnnual">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/billionaires/2026/position/true.json Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read)] ''Forbes'', annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.</ref>
In 2024 C&S was the proposed buyer of 579 stores to be sold off in the [[Kroger]]–[[Albertsons]] merger, which a federal judge blocked in December 2024.<ref name="cnn24k">Nathaniel Meyersohn, [https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/10/business/kroger-albertsons-merger-ruling Federal judge blocks Kroger’s $25 billion mega-merger with Albertsons] ''CNN Business'', 10 December 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.</ref> He seldom gives interviews.<ref name="bnh24">Matthew J. Mowry, [https://www.businessnhmagazine.com/article/40-influential-leaders-rick-cohen 40 Influential Leaders - Rick Cohen] ''Business NH Magazine'', 1 February 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.</ref><ref name="bg24" />

== Early life and education ==
Cohen studied accounting at the [[Wharton School]] of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1974.<ref name="wm26">Joanna Blaz, [https://magazine.wharton.upenn.edu/digital/building-the-warehouse-of-the-future/ Building the Warehouse of the Future] ''Wharton Magazine'', 5 May 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.</ref><ref name="sym26" /> He told ''Wharton Magazine'' that he married three weeks after graduating and went to work in his family's small grocery wholesale business in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he used his computer training to automate the business early.<ref name="wm26" /> He holds honorary doctorates from Assumption College and Keene State College.<ref name="sym26" />

== C&S Wholesale Grocers ==
C&S was started by his grandfather in 1918.<ref name="fp_rick_cohen" /> His grandfather, the co-founder Israel Cohen, handed over to Cohen's father, Lester, in 1955, and Rick Cohen joined in the 1970s, when the Keene-based company had sales of about US$50 million a year in New England.<ref name="bg24" /> He became chairman, president and chief executive in 1989. He was president until March 2014 and chief executive until January 2018, and remains executive chairman.<ref name="sym26" /> Through acquisitions he built C&S into the country's largest grocery wholesaler. In the 1990s it built one of the most advanced automated warehouses in the United States, at York, Pennsylvania.<ref name="bg24" /> [[Forbes]] puts its annual revenue at about US$30 billion, and reports that in August 2026 C&S agreed to buy a majority stake in the grocery chain [[Winn-Dixie]].<ref name="fp_rick_cohen" />
'''Kroger–Albertsons divestiture.''' To win approval for their merger, Kroger and Albertsons agreed to sell 579 stores to C&S. The [[Federal Trade Commission]] argued that C&S was "ill-equipped" to run them. In December 2024 Judge Adrienne Nelson blocked the merger, finding that the divestiture "will significantly disadvantage C&S as a competitor".<ref name="cnn24k" />

== Symbotic ==
In about 2005 the inventor John Lert approached Cohen about starting a warehouse-automation company for grocers. Cohen put up the money to form it in 2007. Lert sold his majority stake to Cohen in 2009 and left in 2011, when its first prototype was installed in a C&S warehouse at Newburgh, New York. Cohen renamed the company, originally CasePick Systems, Symbotic in 2012.<ref name="bg24" /> Former employees told the ''Boston Globe'' that Cohen was closely involved in every decision; one said: "He made every decision, whether it was a $100 million decision or $100 decision." The company had three chief executives between 2011 and the end of 2017, when Cohen took the role himself.<ref name="bg24" />
In 2021 [[Wal-Mart|Walmart]] agreed to install Symbotic systems in 25 of its regional distribution centres, and in 2022 it extended the deal to all 42. Walmart received a stake in the company, and almost 90 per cent of Symbotic's revenue in fiscal 2023 came from Walmart.<ref name="bg24" /> Symbotic went public in 2022 through a US$5.5 billion merger with a [[SoftBank]]-sponsored special-purpose acquisition company.<ref name="fp_rick_cohen" /> Cohen has chaired the board since June 2022 and has been chief executive since November 2022. He takes no salary, bonus or equity awards.<ref name="sym26" /> In 2023 Symbotic and SoftBank set up a joint venture, GreenBox (now trading as Exol), which SoftBank owns 65 per cent and Symbotic 35 per cent. In fiscal 2025 Symbotic bought Walmart's Advanced Systems and Robotics business.<ref name="sym26" /> [[Forbes]] reports revenue of US$2.2 billion in fiscal 2025.<ref name="fp_rick_cohen" />

== Ownership ==
Symbotic's January 2026 proxy statement lists Richard B. Cohen as beneficial owner of 7.6 per cent of the combined voting power. Much larger blocks are held by Cohen family trusts: [[David Ladensohn]], described as a long-time friend of Cohen, is listed with 31.6 per cent as an individual and as trustee of Cohen family trusts, and Janet L. Cohen with 27.7 per cent as trustee of other family trusts. [[Wal-Mart|Walmart]] holds 12.7 per cent of the voting power.<ref name="sym26" /> In January 2024 the ''Boston Globe'' put the value of Cohen's 219 million shares, some held by family trusts, at US$11 billion.<ref name="bg24" />

== Wealth ==
[[Forbes]] lists his family's source of wealth as warehouse automation and classes it as inherited and growing.<ref name="fp_rick_cohen" />

== Wealth history ==
[[Forbes]] has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 4 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2023. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list, and, where applicable, the rank and estimate in the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans.<ref name="ForbesAnnual" /><ref name="fp_rick_cohen" />

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Forbes estimates by list year
! Year !! World's Billionaires rank !! Net worth (US$ bn) !! Forbes 400 rank !! Forbes 400 net worth (US$ bn)
|-
| 2022 || – || – || 99 || 7.6
|-
| 2023 || 195 || 9.6 || 41 || 16.2
|-
| 2024 || 99 || 19.6 || 96 || 10.4
|-
| 2025 || 199 || 12.0 || 45 || 22.1
|-
| 2026 || 97 || 26.3 || 54 || 21.9
|}

== Philanthropy ==
Cohen serves on the board of the [[Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies]] at [[Keene State College]].<ref name="bnh24" /> No other major gifts were documented in the sources checked.

== Political activity ==
No donations to political parties or candidates were documented in the sources checked.

== International and political links ==
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."

=== Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements) ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Jewish communal charities ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Gulf states ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== China ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Russia ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== India ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Palestinian or Arab causes ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Home government ===
No documented involvement found in sources checked.

=== Other international links ===
Company level: Symbotic's warehouse joint venture Exol is 65 per cent owned by the Japanese [[SoftBank Group]].<ref name="sym26" />

== See also ==
* [[Walmart]]

== External links ==
* [https://www.symbotic.com/ Symbotic]
* [https://www.cswg.com/ C&S Wholesale Grocers]

==Notes==
<references/>

[[Category:Businesspeople|Cohen, Rick]]
[[Category:Living people|Cohen, Rick]]
[[Category:American billionaires|Cohen, Rick]]
[[Category:United States|Cohen, Rick]]
[[Category:Food and Agriculture Industry|Cohen, Rick]]
[[Category:Retail Industry|Cohen, Rick]]

Rick Cohen - Revision history

Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 136, 10 Nov 2026); all claims sourced