Most companies aim to create value for investors over the long run, but they are also concerned with beating short-term targets. But there are some excellent businesses that have an extreme long-term focus and are designed to be compounding machines over periods of decades. Here are three in particular that I own in my portfolio that have tremendous wealth-building potential.

Howard Hughes Holdings' (NYSE: HHH) management often describes its business as a real-life version of the popular video game Sim City. And this is a pretty accurate comparison for the company's core business of developing city-sized master-planned communities.

The basic idea is that Howard Hughes acquires a large plot of land, like the 37,000 acres it recently bought near Phoenix. It then sells a small portion as building lots to residential homebuilders, which build neighborhoods. These neighborhoods create demand for commercial properties, which Howard Hughes builds and collects rent from. The presence of offices, shops, and other commercial amenities makes the remaining land more attractive (and valuable), so it sells a little more to developers. And this cycle of value creation can take several decades to play out.

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Source Fool.com