John D Rockefeller
The "Robber Baron" of oil
Background
Born in Richford New York on July 8th, 1939 Rockefeller was born to William Avery Rockefeller and Eliza Davison Rockefeller. He grew up with his mother as a role model with her religious and disciplined views.
Important Accomlishments/Achievments
- Within the first decade of his company Standard oil became the largest and most efficient refineries that owned 90% of the American Refining Capacity by 1880.
- He became the first man to have a billion dollars to his name at the time.
- He created the most efficient oil monopoly with a vertical integration system that allowed him to dominate the industry.
- Made Standard Oil the richest, biggest, and most feared business in the world, seemingly immune to the boom and bust of the business cycle, consistently racking up profits year after year.
Significance/Legacy
His almost total dominance of the oil refining business and its monopoly has made people fear monopolies for their power. Monopolies were feared so much that there are laws to prevent them and at the time back then they forced a dissolution of the company into multiple smaller companies, a few well known are Exxon-Mobile, Chevron, and Pennzoil. Rockefeller is also well known as a philanthropist and gave a way more than 500 million dollars of his money to various charities and organizations.
Standard Oil Logo
John D. Rockefeller
A picture of him taken in 1875 when his company Standard Oil was relatively successful.