Billionaire American John Davison Rockefeller. Secrets of the Rockefeller family. Destructive criticism and the Standard Oil section
John Davison Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 in New York. When he was very young, the family moved to Pennsylvania. John D.'s mother raised him in the fear of God and in strict Baptist laws.
The father was an entrepreneur. Not always successful, but able to combine frequent risk with accumulation. There is an opinion that the ostentatious chic and egocentrism of the parent forced John Davison to avoid such an image in every possible way and strive for. Often the family lived in debt, which made John D. ashamed of his father (again according to some researchers). But there is also evidence from the future billionaire himself, which suggests that his father played a decisive positive role in John’s life:
He often bargained with me and bought various services from me. He taught me how to buy and sell. My father was just training me to get rich!
Rockefeller Sr. did not like physical labor, tried to earn money with his mind.
The father told his son about his business, explained the principles, and although he himself was not the most successful in business, his son early years I managed to learn a lot. For example, judging by the young man’s future career, he learned that morality and justice in business are very relative concepts, and if there is a goal, then much can be sacrificed for the sake of it.
Studying at school was difficult for him, but hard work covered all the shortcomings.
Growing up in a religious family (according to ) made John Davison a teetotaler who avoided gambling and dancing. Being the eldest child, he had to become the family breadwinner in his youth. The first job that John D. got was as an accounting assistant (before that, the boy worked part-time by feeding turkeys and working on a farm).
To get this job, John dropped out of college and took a three-month accounting course. This was his only paid job.
Having borrowed money from his father (at 10%), Rockefeller became a junior partner in an agricultural company, which he led to the business of refining oil into kerosene (which was becoming a very popular means for lighting lamps).
Creation of Standard Oil
John D.'s silence inspired the government to legalize the monopoly issue and dismember the Rockefeller empire. Despite this, John Davison's financial assets only increased from this: having divided Standard Oil into 34 small companies at the request of the authorities, he retained a controlling stake in all of them. Interestingly, most of the modern ones are descended from these 34 pieces of Standard Oil, such as ExxonMobil, .
Theodore Roosevelt launched a whole series trials against Standard Oil, which he relied on, which was allowed, in Rockefeller style, to buy up metallurgical plants to create a monopoly for United States Steel.
Richest man
To this day, John D. is considered the richest man on the planet and the most generous philanthropist (he paid for medical research; Chicago and Rockefeller universities were founded with his money). Back in 1917, Rockefeller's capital was 20% more than the annual US budget. No businessman has ever achieved such heights. He sponsored the construction of the UN headquarters in New York, which determined the enormous influence of the United States on this organization.
D. Rockefeller died at the age of 97. His family (clan) is still considered one of the most influential in the world.
John Rockefeller (full name- John Davison Rockefeller) is the world's first dollar millionaire, the greatest entrepreneur and philanthropist.
As of 2007, taking into account inflation processes and recalculations, its capital was estimated at 318 billion dollars! For comparison: Bill Gates, the richest person in the world in the 2000s, earned about 50 billion by that period.
Rockefeller family
John Rockefeller Sr. born July 8, 1839 in the city of Richmond, located in New York State. He was the second child of six from his parents.
John's mother- Eliza Davison, homemaker, very devout woman who attended the Baptist church. Father– William Avery Rockefeller, lumberjack and later traveling merchant selling various kinds of elixirs.
Little businessman
John Rockefeller Sr. learned from an early age how to manage business and account for all cash flows. According to him, his father helped him with this:
“He often bargained with me and bought various services from me. He taught me how to buy and sell. My father was simply “training” me to get rich!”
At the age of seven, little John already made money. He helped his neighbors dig up potatoes, and also got turkeys and began to feed them. Then he sold them.
All income was recorded in a special notebook. And the money itself was conscientiously put into a porcelain piggy bank, which allowed him to accumulate $50 in capital by the age of 13. He lent this money to one of the neighboring farmers at 7.5% per year.
John's study period
John Davison began school at the age of 13 in his hometown. The learning process took a lot of energy from him, had to study hard to achieve results.
After graduating from high school, he went to college in Cleveland, where his family moved, where he began to study the basics of business and accounting. However, long studies did not appeal to him. Therefore, Rockefeller soon dropped out of college and entered the 3-month accounting courses.
Beginning and end of career
John Rockefeller's father disappeared for a long time selling his elixirs, and his mother had to save on everything quite often. And since John was one of the eldest children in the family, then At the age of 16 he started looking for work.
First position
For a month and a half, he looked for a suitable place to start his career and ended up being hired as an assistant accountant in a small company Hewitt&Tuttle(Hewitt and Tuttle).
Thanks to his mathematical abilities and diligence, John very quickly received his first promotion to junior accountant and a monthly salary of 25 dollars.
From that moment on, he began saving money and giving 10% of his earnings to charity in the Baptist church, of which he was a parishioner.
This habit became one of the reasons for his success and achieving the title of “first billionaire in the world” in the future.
Last position
The diligent work and excellent ability which young John showed enabled him to occupy post of company manager after the departure of his predecessor.
However, the company's management assigned him a salary of $600, when as the previous manager of Hewitt & Tuttle he received much more - $2,000.
This fact upset Rockefeller, and he resigned. There were no more moments in his biography when he worked for hire.
Rockefeller's first business
Thanks to my habit save some money from every earnings, at the time of leaving his job, John had $800 in his pocket.
He began to look for an opportunity to invest this money profitably and found entrepreneur John Morris Clark, who needed a partner for a joint business. John needed an amount of 2000 dollars for this; he borrowed the missing 1200 from his father at 10% per annum.
John Rockefeller became a partner in the company in May 1857, which was called "Clark and Rochester". They were engaged in trading agricultural products: meat, grain, hay, etc. During this period, the civil war began between the North and the South, so the business of the partners was booming. A lot of food was required.
Birth of Standard Oil
In the early 1860s, kerosene lamps came into use and quickly gained social acceptance. Seeing this, John decides to go into the oil refining business and creates a tandem with a familiar chemist, Samuel Andrews. Together with Clark, they build a processing plant and begin to purchase oil, transporting it across railway.
In 1870, John Rockefeller created the companyStandardOil" (Standard Oil), which became the progenitor of all large companies in the oil business.
Rockefeller, already an experienced business man, began to buy up small oil producing and oil refining enterprises. They had a simple choice: either ruin or joining a trust.
Great success
Business skills, combined with bribery and blackmail, allowed John Rockefeller to become the owner of 95% of all oil plants and enterprises. And if it were not for the Sherman Act (prohibiting monopolies), which came into force in 1890, this percentage would probably reach 100.
Rockefeller had to split his trust into 34 enterprises. However, this did not bother him, since in each he had a controlling interest and in fact remained the owner of everything that was before the division.
In 1894, John Rockefeller Sr. became the first billionaire in America and the world.
Retirement
At the age of 52 John decided to retire and handed over all matters to his partners. He himself devoted himself to charity, which he has been constantly engaged in since the days of his hired work.
He took an active financial part in the construction of the University of Chicago, Medical University, which bears his name. In 1913 he creates Rockefeller Foundation.
At the age of 97(May 23, 1937) John Rockefeller Sr. died of a heart attack before reaching the age of 100, as he dreamed. He left a total inheritance of about 700 million dollars to his children: his only son, John Rockefeller Jr., 460 million; to his five daughters - 240 million.
He gave the rest of the money to charity. His son in the future also became a generous philanthropist who built a 102-story skyscraper "Empire State Building", and also allocated 9 million for the construction UN headquarters in New York.
(July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937)
“Labor is the basis of capital”
John Davison Rockefeller was born into a Protestant family, William and Eliza Rockefeller, in Richford, New York.
John's mother was a respectable and pious woman, and his father, a traveling salesman, was a flighty red tape and reveler who appeared at home extremely rarely, but oddly enough, often with money. During his long absences, his mother, who could barely make ends meet, taught her children to be thrifty and orderly. The family life of his parents could hardly be called successful, but John’s childhood was happy and joyful. But it was these years that shaped his character, laying the foundations of a strong and purposeful personality. His mother passed on her religiosity to him, and his father became the embodiment of what the young Rockefeller would never want to become. Even as a child, John made a vow to himself to be a strong support for his mother and never to lead a life even remotely similar to the life of his father. That's how it all turned out.
The college John entered after high school was not to his liking. After completing a three-month course in accounting, he began looking for work and within 6 weeks found a position as a deputy accountant at Hewitt and Tuttle. This event became his first victory and the date of September 26, 1855 - his first working day, Rockefeller will celebrate throughout his life.
“My whole future seemed to depend on that day, and I often asked myself with horror: what would have happened if I had not gotten this job then?” - he often repeated.
Hewitt and Tuttle provided brokerage services in the trading of a wide range of goods. John turned out to be an excellent student. He eagerly absorbed the invaluable experience of practical commerce, learned to conduct business and weigh the opportunities and dangers of real business.
The young man was distinguished by a truly Protestant attitude to work and innate discipline, and in addition, he always received great pleasure from his work. He arrived at the office at 6:30 a.m. and rarely returned home before 10 p.m. However, John soon realized that his prospects at Hewitt were rather limited. The position of assistant accountant in this company was his first and last hired job. After resigning, he, together with Maurice Clark, organized his first partnership - the company Clark and Rockefeller for the purchase of hay, grain and meat.
A lucky chance and the first million
Chance played an important role in Rockefeller’s life. The second half of the 19th century was a time of rapid economic and industrial development in America. It is not surprising that these years there is a huge demand for kerosene lighting. Chance meeting Jonah and Samuel Andrews, one of the chemists involved in the production of kerosene from oil, turn the fate of the young entrepreneur around. He founded his first oil company, Rockefeller and Andrews.
Now such a step seems natural, but then it was quite risky. It’s hard to imagine now, but in those days oil had virtually no commercial value. Of course, Rockefeller was not alone in his vision of the future; many investors were developing the rich and easily accessible oil fields in Pennsylvania.
But young John’s plans were initially very ambitious: he rightly believed that only the enlargement and consolidation of companies could create a serious oil business in America. It was for this purpose that in 1870 Rockefeller, together with Henry Flagler Founds Standard Oil Corporation in Ohio. Thus, a company was born that laid the foundation for most of the world's oil brands: Mobile, Exxon, Chevron, etc.
It is amazing how well Rockefeller envisioned the structure and concept of the new company. He based it on provisions that were far ahead of their time. First of all, he created the Standard Oil Charter, according to which company employees were paid wages in the form of company shares. Only such direct participation and interest in the common cause, according to John, could truly motivate them to work more productively in order to increase the value of the enterprise and thereby the value of their share in it.
The second main principle was the consolidation of the enterprise. Carrying out a plan to create an oil empire, Rockefeller and Henry Flagler bought up scattered oil production and oil refining enterprises, uniting them into a single powerful oil trust. Standard Oil's influence and power grew. Rockefeller presented his competitors with a choice: union with him or ruin.
God's will and technological progress
At the same time, the owners of Standard Oil carefully considered every aspect of their business. For example, instead of buying barrels for $2.50, they started producing them themselves for only $1. A strategy for working with transport companies is carefully thought out: using competition between them, as well as developing a cooperation scheme with the railroad, Rockefeller achieves prices for Standard Oil products much lower than those of its competitors. Thus, by the end of the 19th century, almost all major oil companies were collected under the auspices of Standard Oil. oil companies: The company controlled 90% of oil refining and 30% of America's oil production.
Some sources indicate that John Rockefeller's fortune reached one billion dollars during these years. On September 29, 1916, he became the world's first billionaire
We must give Rockefeller justice: he always remembered that at the beginning of his career, when his empire was just forming, he turned a blind eye to many things, and almost any method of achieving success was good for him. Years later, he was not afraid to say: “I can account for every million of mine, except for the first.” Although, on the other hand, all his life he believed that by earning money, he was fulfilling the will of God. 
But as the years passed, the era of scientific and technological progress did not always play into the hands of the far-sighted entrepreneur. Edison's invention of the incandescent lamp, which gave birth to electric lighting, could have turned the entire oil refining business into nothingness.
But fortunately in 1885 appears in the world the first car powered by an internal combustion engine, and in In 1908, Ford's first production car rolled off the production line in the United States.. From that moment on, oil took a leading position in the world of business.
Now it seemed that the Rockefeller empire was indestructible. But in 1911, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company. The trust was divided into thirty-eight different companies.
But even in this situation, Rockefeller turned out to be unsinkable - the main blocks of shares in all the newly created companies remained in his hands, and his personal fortune only grew thanks to this. He retained his leadership role until his full retirement in 1914, when John turned over control of the business to his only son, Rockefeller Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937) is still considered the richest man in US history. His fortune in 1917 amounted to 2.5% of the country's total gross product.
John D. Rockefeller is known not only for creating Standard Oil, but also for founding the world's largest empire of philanthropic organizations, including the University of Chicago, Rockefeller University, the famous charitable foundation Rockefeller, Theological Seminary and Spelman College, as well as several monasteries. The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, which he founded in 1901, achieved significant results in scientific research and the development of new drugs, including the invention of an effective serum for the treatment of meningitis.
Family and children
You could say that Rockefeller was happy man. He married for love and lived in harmony with Laura Celestia Spelman all his life. He did what he loved and knew how to do, and achieved success in it. He lived in accordance with his conscience and faith, believing that by becoming rich, he was fulfilling God's destiny - in the Protestant ethic, wealth was seen as a blessing from above.
Raising children was also a duty for him, because they were to inherit a huge fortune, and this is a great responsibility. To raise worthy successors, he created a model of market relations at home: he appointed his daughter Laura “ general director” and told the children to keep detailed accounting books. Each child received two cents for killing a fly, ten cents for sharpening one pencil, and five cents for an hour of music lessons. A day of abstinence from candy cost two cents, each subsequent day was valued at ten cents. For being late for breakfast, little Rockefellers were fined one cent.
The children received one piece of cheese a day, and on Sundays they were not allowed to read anything except the Bible. They wore out their clothes one after the other, and therefore the only son in the family had to wear women's clothing until he was 7 years old.
John's wife, Settie, sported dresses patched with her own hands and did not at all contradict her husband in the principles of raising children. Moreover: one day Rockefeller was going to buy a bicycle for the children, but his wife said that there was no need for extra bicycles in the house: “Having one bicycle for four, they will learn to share with each other...”
The results of such upbringing turned out to be quite controversial. Rockefeller Jr. was ill a lot in childhood, his will was broken by his father, and throughout his youth he suffered because he considered himself less talented than his father.
Invitation to the wedding of John Rockefeller, Jr.
But Johnny Jr. was saved by his marriage to Abby Aldrich, a cheerful and charming girl, the daughter of a senator from the state of New York. Abby's family was full of fun and frivolity; her father was a well-known rake. And this is exactly the atmosphere that young John needed. With Abby, he learned to enjoy life. After work, he hurried home, stock market reports made him despondent, and he blossomed only in the circle of his family. But he raised his children the same way he was raised - the children received 10 cents for every mouse they caught...
John's sister Bessie Rockefeller had a tragic life. She was subjected mental disorder, as a result of which I came to the firm conviction that the family was completely ruined. Bessie spent her entire life in her room, mending old dresses.
But her sister, Edith Rockefeller, became a legendary reel. At the age of 21, she also suffered from a nervous disorder, but after receiving treatment in the hospital, she successfully married Harold McCormick, the owner of a large fortune. They turned out to be a wonderful couple and wasted more than tens of millions. Edith acquired a coat of arms, antique furniture, a collection of diamonds and eclipsed the wasteful Vanderbilts in terms of her spending.
The father of the family himself has changed a lot in his old age. And although he retained his sober mind and business acumen until the end of his life, he now began to allow himself what he was deprived of in childhood. He became interested in sports: he learned to play golf well and mastered a racing bicycle. After the death of his wife, he was very sad and often repeated that “there was only one beloved in my life, and I am happy that I had her.” But years passed, and he became interested in women: during car rides, he was usually accompanied by two beautiful companions. Their knees were prudently covered with a shawl, from under which Rockefeller did not remove his hands.
Rockefeller dreamed of living to be 100 years old; he fell short of this age by only 2 years.
The heir to his empire was only son John Davison Jr. (1874-1960), besides him there were 4 daughters in the family. The son did not become such an outstanding businessman as his father, but he managed to do a lot in his life. First of all, he was one of the world's largest philanthropists, donating $537 million to charity. And besides, it was he who bought and donated the land for the United Nations Assembly, taking on most of the costs of constructing this complex. IN 1929, in Together with his wife, Rockefeller Jr. founded the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. And, of course, it was built by him famous Rockefeller The center discussed in
Rockefeller Estate
The Kykuit estate, the residence of four generations of the Rockefeller clan, is now open to everyone.
A house built over a hundred years ago by John Rockefeller Jr. for his parents. This house is often called a monument to the era of early capitalism and a kind of cultural and philosophical message from America's most powerful financial dynasty to its descendants.
All representatives of the dynasty had a hand, imagination and, undoubtedly, wallet to contribute to the wealth of the house. But priority goes to the father and son Rockefellers, full namesakes, who are distinguished only by the words “senior” or “junior”. John D. Rockefeller Jr. built a 40-room mansion for his father John Rockefeller Sr., an oil magnate, philanthropist and clan patriarch, when he decided to step away from the department. The grandson of the patriarch, Nelson A. Rockefeller, who served as governor of New York and vice president of the United States, made a significant contribution to the artistic decoration of the residence. He has assembled an impressive art collection, which is located on two basement levels, in an intricate suite of galleries. 
As Rob Schweitzer, a spokesman for the Hudson Valley Historical Society, told Voice of America: The Cayquet, built in 1913, was included in the federal building register in 1976. historical significance. Three years later, Nelson Rockefeller bequeathed his share of the Caiquet property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Accordingly, and most the adjacent forested lands belonging to the clan also came under public management. In particular, the state-run park named after the Rockefellers is open to the public for biking, horseback riding and hiking.
Text by Tatyana Borodina
In the next issue November 4: Walk 27 – Midtown Music.
Historical photos from internet resource
Any reprint of text or use of copyright photographs is possible only with the permission of the author of the project.
It would be very strange if the “Success Stories” section did not include the name of such a person as John Davison Rockefeller, who is known, first of all, for becoming the first person in the history of planet Earth whose fortune exceeded one billion dollars.
It is very remarkable that the story of his success began in a small provincial town in North America and this man owes his success solely to his talent and perseverance.
John was born in Richford, New York, into a Protestant family. His father, William Avery Rockefeller, was first a lumberjack, and then became a traveling salesman who supplied residents of the surrounding area with miraculous elixirs and potions. Dad was rarely at home and devoted a lot of time to trading, alcohol and riotous women. But in his memoirs, John speaks of his parent as a good father who, in his free time, devoted a lot of time to his son and, in particular, taught him to trade. William, as they would say now, arranged some kind of training for his son, buying and selling his son’s various services. John subsequently appreciated these lessons. And from communicating with his father, he gained the firm conviction that alcohol and tobacco are a vice, and this is very bad. And looking at how his mother suffered from her husband’s frequent infidelities, he decided even in childhood that he would never do this.
The neighbors considered John's father a very strange man who did not want to work, but simply, a quitter. However, William managed to save some money and buy land plot and invest some money in various enterprises. He willingly shared with his son his knowledge about the principles of business management and the fundamental criteria for achieving success.
John's mother, Eliza Davison, ran the show household(there were six children in the family. John is the second child in the family), she was very sensitive to religion and resignedly accepted the hardships of life: regular lack of money (her husband was often absent from home, which required strict savings) and her husband’s infidelity.
John later said that he began to engage in commerce from early childhood. Many people find it disgusting that future millionaire I bought candy in the shop and then sold it individually to my sisters. Profiting from your relatives is disgusting?! It all depends on what angle you look at it from. Do you also think the boy’s actions were terrible? Then try answering the following questions:
- Are candies a necessity?
- the girls had money (they bought candy from John) and what stopped them from buying candy in the shop themselves?
- The shop sold sweets not by piece, but by weight. The girls, buying one candy at a time, spent less money than if they bought these sweets in a store, which means they believed that they were making a good deal. If both parties believe that they have received the expected benefit, then what is immoral about it?
So, even in early childhood, not from books, but from his own practical experience, John understood what the laws of surplus value are and how they work. I believe it is very important for a future success story to understand how money works.
At the age of seven, he began breeding and feeding turkeys for sale, and helped neighbors (not for free) dig potatoes.
And what’s remarkable is that he recorded all the results of his commercial activities in a notebook. Stingy boy? Business is not possible without accounting and planning. Little John knew what is a revelation for many today's businessmen - success is not possible without accounting and planning.
The boy kept everything he managed to earn in a porcelain piggy bank, which allowed him to take up lending at the age of thirteen - it was at this age that he issued his first loan to a farmer he knew. Fifty dollars at 7.5 percent interest. Expensive? But the farmer took it, which means he thought it was profitable for him. Money shouldn’t just lie there – it should work and make a profit. This is one of the rules of success. Money must work.
If you want a success story, don't go to school
That same year, when he took out the first loan in his life, he went to school for the first time. Many years later, recalling this period of his life, John wrote that it was very difficult for him to study, and completing his lessons simply required titanic work. But the boy had a goal and he successfully completed school and went to college with the goal of mastering the basics accounting and commerce. But, as often happens with extraordinary people, he quickly realized that education does not bring him closer to success, but turns him into a diligent employee who will work for other people all his life.
He is finishing a three-month accounting course and is looking for a job.
Just at this time, the Rockefeller family moved to Cleveland. John spends a month and a half looking for a job and eventually becomes an assistant accountant in a small company that deals with real estate and organizing shipping. Hardworking and punctual, he attracts the attention of the owners of the enterprise and when chief accountant leaves the company, the owners offer Rockefeller to take this place. But the predecessor received $2,000 a year, but John is offered only 600. And he leaves the company. If you don't value your work, then others won't value it either. This is another rule for achieving success - value your work and do not allow others to devalue it. If you don't do this, you won't have any success or success story. This was the first and last work, when John worked “for his uncle.”
It so happened that it was at this time that a businessman from England, John Maurice Clark, was looking for a partner with a capital of at least $2,000 to create and run a joint business. Young Rockefeller, at that time, had a gold reserve of $800. The missing amount had to be borrowed from dad Rockefeller at 10% (!!! Remember the interest that John announced to a farmer he knew) per annum.
And on April 27, a historical event occurs - John Davison Rockefeller becomes a junior partner in the Clark and Rochester enterprise. The newly created company sells hay, pork, grain... It sells everything they buy.
And then something happens that can be called a gift of fate - the Civil War in the United States begins. I understand your indignation - how can you call war a gift?! But let me remind you that we are talking about a success story. For the business of a young company, the beginning of the war opened up great opportunities: war requires not only blood and lives, it takes everything. And hay, and pork, and cartridges... Everything.
The company's capital was clearly not enough for such a business, and John persuades the bank manager to issue an unsecured loan. How did this happen? History and young Rockefeller do not talk about the motives that pushed the hand and pen of the bank leader. There is an opinion that Rockefeller was so sincere and convincing that the bank manager could not resist. Have you ever received a loan from a bank? Have you ever seen a sentimental bank manager? Or maybe in those distant times people worked as bank managers?!
As a junior partner and businessman, John Rockefeller decided to marry Laura Celestina Spelman, a simple teacher whom he met during his student days. Like all women of that time, Laura was overly pious and at the same time unusually practical. Many years later, Rockefeller said that if it weren’t for my wife’s advice, I would have remained poor. Was it true? Of course it was! Laura may not have understood business, but a like-minded wife is not just the secret to success. This is a rocket that will carry any normal man to the very pinnacle of success and to several lines in history, if not civilization, then business for sure.
Where did success stories begin?
The world was entering the age of oil. Kerosene lamps were already burning and the great minds of the world were developing their internal combustion engines. Civilization slowly but surely walked towards the twentieth century - the age of motors.
It was during this period that John met the chemist Samuel Andrews, who was passionate about the problems of oil distillation and was confident in the enormous prospects of the emerging industry. In those days, the conversation was only about the possibilities of kerosene lighting of rooms and streets. A huge number of people, cities and towns... A huge market that no one has controlled yet.
At this time, a message appeared in the press about a “fresh” oil field discovered by Edwin Drake. The offer was risky, but very tempting. Rockefeller teamed up with Andrews, and then both of them, now as partners, turned to Clark. As a result, the oil refining company Andrews and Clark was established to build an oil refinery, which the partners named "Flats". They decided to transport oil by rail.
For the Rockefeller success story, oil and railroads are the key words. And the point is not that oil was transported by rail. There are 12 golden rules on how to become your first billionaire. I present to your attention rule No. 13, which the author did not like to talk about.
In the new company, Rockefeller led the search for oil fields. The work is difficult and not always rewarding. During this period, John thought that there were a huge number of small enterprises scattered throughout the country that were engaged in oil production and refining. Terrible chaos in the market. But if all these small enterprises were united under one sign and roof... It was with this idea that John Rockefeller came to his partners. This historical fact.
And now the main recipe in the success story from John Rockefeller - read carefully!
Under the laws of that time, corporations were not allowed to own property outside the state where the company was incorporated. And this was a big problem - potential investors are not interested in investing small amounts of money in a huge number of objects. The investment object becomes much more attractive if the property can be merged.
And Rockefeller figured out how to circumvent the laws. The business plan (if you can call it that) for the future company was prepared very carefully: they even thought through the issue that employees should not receive salaries in money, they would be given shares - this, according to Rockefeller, was supposed to make them work harder and more productively.
The thoroughness of the plan is evidenced by the following historical fact: barrels were required to transport oil. Barrels could be bought for $2.50, but the partners opened their own own production, which allowed them to get the same barrels for $1. For a small enterprise, the price of a barrel was not significant. However, the partners were planning a business in which hundreds of thousands of barrels were needed.
The next point of the plan was the organization of transportation of oil and refined products. Rockefeller carefully studied all transport companies operating in the region, their competitive advantages and weaknesses. A separate plan was drawn up, which involved the creation conflict situations among transport workers and using the consequences of these conflicts for their own purposes. Rockefeller created problems for transport workers, and then helped solve them.
Even before the Standard Oil Company was created, the implementation of this plan reduced the cost of transporting one barrel of oil from $2.4 to $1.65. This “small” advantage, multiplied by tens of thousands of barrels, became the key to the very great success of the future super company.
A number of secret agreements between the Rockefeller company and transport workers emerged: low price for Rockefeller and a high price for any other company. Under such conditions, competitors had no chance of success. Employees of competing oil production and oil refining companies were bribed.
In 1870, the Standard Oil Company was incorporated with authorized capital at 1 million dollars. And in this new company, John Rockefeller's share was 27%. And from that moment on, a conflict began between oil producers and refiners. real war, behind the scenes of which Standard Oil was hiding, which organized this war.
As mentioned above, in those days oil was transported in wooden barrels on open railway platforms. The oil evaporated and the buyer received only part of the sent cargo - the most valuable volatile fractions of oil evaporated.
The Rockefeller group secretly owned the transport company Union Tanker Car Company, and the transport company had a patent for sealed metal tank cars (oil is still transported in such containers). The transport company allocated such cars to Standard Oil's competitors, and John Rockefeller monitored competitors' deliveries, their volumes and consumers. And as soon as a competitor began to invest money in the development of its business, received loans and expanded its sales market, the order followed - not to allocate cars. Competitors went bankrupt, and Standard Oil bought bankrupt companies at a meager price. Rockefeller used this tactic to expand his business for many years. The competitors could not even imagine who organized their bankruptcy and who is the real owner of the transport company.
Just because of the collusion between Standard Oil and the transportation industry, the state treasury lost more than fifty million dollars annually. The independent oil producing companies that remained afloat turned to the state administration with a proposal to build a pipeline. State authorities supported the idea and construction began in 1878. The pipe could destroy the monopoly that Rockefeller had created for so many years.
Standard Oil's response to the decision to build the Riverside pipeline was to recruit gangs who attacked construction workers and blew up already assembled sections of the pipeline. The oil pipeline was still completed. In response, the Rockefeller company built four such pipelines and announced a meager fee for pumping oil. A rival pipeline went bankrupt and was bought, again for rock bottom, by Standard Oil. It is clear that as soon as the competitor was eliminated, prices for oil transportation increased significantly.
Why were the authorities silent? He did not remain silent. A Pennsylvania grand jury returned an indictment against Rockefeller and Flagler for organizing gangster attacks. A demand for the arrest of John Rockefeller was sent to New York. However, for unknown reasons (ha ha), this judicial act was not executed.
Success - in all its glory
This is where the real success began. Rockefeller negotiated with transport workers throughout the country and bought up small oil producing and refining companies. The competitors had little choice: go bankrupt or transfer the property to the Rockefeller empire for a share of shares. Thus, by 1880, John had more than 95% of all oil production and refining in his hands. North America. Having become a monopolist, Rockefeller raised oil prices.
Ten years later, the Sherman Anti-Monopoly Act required Standard Oil to be broken up into a number of small and independent companies. Rockefeller complied: 34 small enterprises were created. And in each of these enterprises, John Rockefeller had a controlling stake. Almost every modern American oil company the success story begins with Standard Oil. To be more precise: their stories are the success story of John Davison Rockefeller.
Before the division, Standard Oil brought its main owner more than three million dollars annually. And besides Standard Oil, John Rockefeller owned 16 railway transport companies, 6 metallurgical enterprises, 6 shipping companies, a dozen companies that traded real estate, a group of banks (9 pieces) and many other properties, such as orange groves and huge plots of land.
What more can be said about John Rockefeller and his success story?
He was a very religious man (?) and from his childhood he donated ten percent of his income annually to the Baptist Church. In 1905, 10 percent amounted to one hundred million dollars.
He lived long life and died at the age of 97 (and dreamed of living to 100). He began to (gradually) move away from business management back in 1897 and focused all his efforts on charity: the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller Medical Institute were built with his money, etc., etc., etc.
Before he died, he gave away more than $500 million to charity. But this was not the entire fortune: the son inherited about 460 million.
In 2007 Forbes magazine tried to estimate Rockefeller's wealth in modern equivalents. It turned out to be 318 billion. That year, Bill Gates topped the list with a net worth of just 50 billion.
And in conclusion, 12 golden rules of success from John Davison Rockefeller.
Success stories always make you think about how a person managed to achieve this very success, in what ways and by what means. If you read this post completely and carefully, then, quite possibly, you felt some disappointment: a Christian entrepreneur, high moral principles and collusion, bandits, tax evasion on an especially large scale. And it’s all one person - John Davison Rockefeller. It's up to you, as always, to decide who he was. One big life, like any big story, consists of small stories. Can these stories be considered success stories or should they be shamefully kept silent? To each his own. There was just such a person and this person lived. And these are no longer success stories - this is a historical fact.
Almost similar stories, but such different destinies. You can look at ways to achieve success or. And think...
The $900 million oil tycoon's career began as a $25-a-month courier. Having started working at the age of sixteen, John Davison Rockefeller - later the richest man in the world - three years later he opened his own company, and in 1862 he went into the oil business.
Having bought out the companies of almost all local competitors, he set his sights on creating a national oil company with a national supply network. The embodiment of his plan was Standard Oil, which in 1879 controlled 90% of the US oil refining industry.
In 1897, he retired from active management of the organization and remained president of Standard Oil until 1911, when the US government finally liquidated the company. Recent years devoted his life to distributing the bulk of his enormous fortune.
Biography. John D. Rockefeller was born in 1839 in Richford, Tioga County, New York. His parents were farmers, and John Rockefeller (the eldest son and second of six children) was expected to help farm with his siblings.
But even at a young age, John Rockefeller showed remarkable commercial ability. He bred and sold turkeys, and lent the proceeds at 7%.
When John Rockefeller was fourteen years old, the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating high school and Folsom Commerce College, he got a job as a courier and assistant bookkeeper for the firm of Hewitt & Tuttle, which represented wholesale commission agents.
No one discussed the issue with the future employee wages, and the guy worked for free for almost three months. After that, he was given 50 dollars and the rate was set: 25 dollars a month.
Future billionaire John Rockefeller worked at Hewitt & Tuttle for three years and left after the firm refused to meet his salary demands - John wanted to be paid $800 a year. This time he decided to open his own company.
John Rockefeller is the richest man in the world
The path to success. Having borrowed $1,000 from his father at 10% interest per annum, John Rockefeller and his partner Morris Clark began to engage in agricultural products. He literally charmed the surrounding farmers, so that in the first year of operation (1859) the company's profits reached 500 thousand dollars.
At that time oil field in Ohio was just starting to take off. Several oil refineries opened near Cleveland. John Rockefeller immediately realized the possibilities that lay ahead new look fuel, and wasted no time in opening the oil refining company Andrews, Clark and Co. in 1862.
He later sold his production commission rights to Clark, bought a partner's interest in Andrews, Clark and Co., and founded Rockefeller & Andrews.
By 1869, Rockefeller's company had already acquired a number of other small firms that worked in the same field, and became known as Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler. However, the oil refining industry as a whole was not experiencing better times. Every day more and more companies appeared wanting to start refining oil. Its price dropped so much that many companies went bankrupt.
But this did not scare John Rockefeller. In 1869, he decided to merge Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler with the Standard Oil Company of Ohio and became president of the company, which had a capital stock of $1 million.
John Rockefeller then continued the “combined” strategy that he had successfully implemented in the steel industry. He concluded that the best way to ensure a company's survival in the current environment is to distribute the risks associated with operating in an unstable area.
In order to achieve this goal, the most sensible thing was to acquire all competing companies - both local and all other US oil refining firms. By 1872, Standard Oil already owned all of Cleveland's oil refineries.
Standard Oil Trust's dominant position has drawn a torrent of criticism. In 1892, Ohio's chief prosecutor won a case to dissolve the trust.
From 1890, while the case continued in court, John Rockefeller was in a state of severe stress. He was completely bald, he didn't even have eyebrows left. It was rumored that he suffered from a nervous disorder.
However, the Standard Oil Company was largely unaffected: it was simply reorganized as the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), since under New Jersey law the parent company could own a number of other companies. Standard Oil Company controlled 75% of the US oil refining industry.
John Rockefeller was president of Standard Oil until 1911, when Supreme Court The US nevertheless issued an order to liquidate the trust, declaring that the company had violated US antitrust laws. Thirty-eight organizations that formed a giant oil refining trust became independent entities.
During his lifetime, Rockefeller was often criticized, and all sorts of fables were written about him. For example, it was widely believed that he lived only on bread and milk. It was believed that he had a phenomenal capacity for work, that hard work did not tire him.
The entrepreneur himself insisted that he didn’t even know what he was talking about: “People stubbornly continue to think that I was a 100% workaholic who worked constantly, day and night, at any time of the year. In fact, as I approached the age of thirty-five, I became what would now be called a quitter. Never, since the time when I first crossed the threshold of my office, have I allowed work to absorb all my time and attention.”
John Rockefeller devoted his last years charitable activities. He gave more than $35 million to the University of Chicago, founded the Medical Research Institute, the Foundation and the Sanitary Commission, which fought hookworm in the southern United States. At that time, his fortune was estimated at $900 million.
He died May 23, 1937, at his home in Ormond Beach. By that time, he had distributed almost all of his fortune, leaving only $26,410,837.
Resume. John D. Rockefeller is the founder of the modern oil refining industry. His business activities may not have been as visible as the man who invented electric lighting or his Model T automobile. But without Standard Oil's cheap gasoline, neither the large-scale electrification of the country nor the mass marketing of automobiles would have occurred.
Realizing that one of the most important factors for success is the professionalism of his employees, Rockefeller assembled a team of the most talented businessmen. He often said: “An organization is made up of people, not machines.”
Subsequently, he was unfairly accused of heading one of the most hated industries in the United States, where trusts are in charge. However, we must not forget that Standard Oil was founded at a difficult time for the industry and increased its influence over several decades.