Rockefeller short biography. John Rockefeller. Business and private life. The company is gaining momentum

John Davison Rockefeller (John Davison Rockefeller; 1839 - 1937) - American entrepreneur, investor and oil tycoon. He is the first billionaire in history. He is the founder of the largest oil company, Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first American business trust. He converted oil industry and determined the structure of modern charity. The Standard Oil Company was founded in 1870, which he led until he officially retired from the company in 1897. The Standard Oil Company began as a partnership in Ohio formed by John Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, Jabez Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews and Stephen Harkness. With the growing importance of components such as gasoline and kerosene in life, Rockefeller's wealth grew to unprecedented levels and he became richest man in the world and the first American with a fortune of more than $1 billion. If inflation rates are taken into account, he is considered the richest man in history.

John Rockefeller had four daughters and one son, John Davison Rockefeller Jr.

A main belt asteroid discovered in 1918 is named after Rockefeller: (904) Rockefellia.

John Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 in Richmond, New York, USA, the second of six children to William Avery Rockefeller (November 13, 1810 - May 11, 1906) and Eliza Davison (September 12, 1813 - March 28, 1889). Genealogists trace some of his ancestors to the French Huguenots who moved to Germany in the 17th century. His father initially worked as a lumberjack and then became a traveling merchant, declaring himself a homeopathic physician and selling various types of herbal elixirs. Local residents called the cheerful merchant "Big Bill" or "Devil Bill". He was an opponent of ordinary, traditional foundations, as a result of which he chose a wandering lifestyle and rarely met with his family. Eliza was a homemaker and a devout Baptist. She struggled to keep the family afloat as her husband did not show up for long periods. She also put up with him double life, which included flirting and bigamy. Thrifty by nature, she taught her son to be thrifty and thrifty. Young Rockefeller listened to his mother and did household chores.

Despite the absence of his father, young Rockefeller was a rather serious and studious boy with good behavior. His contemporaries described him as serious, religious, methodical and cautious. He was an excellent participant in any dispute and always expressed himself accurately and clearly. He also deeply loved music and even dreamed of a career in music. But still, his main advantage was his accounting skills.

While still a youth his family moved first to the village of Moravia in the state of New York, and then in 1851 to the village of Owego in the same state, where he attended Owego Academy. In 1853, the family moved to Strongville, a suburb of Cleveland. There Rockefeller studied at Central high school Cleveland and attended a ten-week business course at Folsom Institute of Commerce, where he studied accounting. In September 1855, when Rockefeller was 16 years old, he got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper at a small firm called Hewitt & Tuttle. He worked hard and, as he later recalled, “admired the methods of office work.” He was particularly adept at calculating shipping costs, which helped him later in his career. His full wages for the first three months were $50 (50 cents per day). And from his first salary, he began donating about 6% of his income to charity, which by the age of 20 increased to 10%, when he became a parishioner of the Baptist church.

In 1859, John Rockefeller first entered the commission business with partner Maurice B. Clark, with whom they earned about $4,000. Rockefeller persistently moved forward, increasing his capital every year. Following the wholesale food business, the partners built an oil refinery in 1863 in the burgeoning industrial area of ​​"The Flats" in Cleveland, Ohio. The plant was directly owned by Andrews, Clark & ​​Company, which was formed from Clark & ​​Rockefeller by the addition of the capital of Samuel Andrews and two brothers of Maurice Clark. At that time, the commercial oil business was in its infancy. And probably, even the newly made partners did not yet imagine the importance and future scale of this industry. Although, Rockefeller, with his prudence and amazing mind, probably still guessed about the coming technological and economic revolution. At that time, whale oil, used in lamps and stoves in almost every home, became too expensive, and there was an urgent need for cheaper and more accessible kerosene.

While his brother Frank fought in the Civil War, Rockefeller ran his own business and recruited recruits. He gave money to the Union, as did many Northerners who avoided the war. In February 1865, what oil historian Daniel Yeargin describes as a "critical" action took place. John Rockefeller bought the Clark brothers' shares at auction for $72,500 and founded the firm Rockefeller & Andrews. Rockefeller himself said that “it was the day that defined my career.” He was well-enlightened to seize the chance to take advantage of post-war prosperity and the great expansion westward due to the development of railroads and an oil-fuelled economy. He took on debt, took profits and reinvested them, adapting to rapidly changing market conditions and setting up overseers for a rapidly expanding industry.

In 1864, John Rockefeller married Laura Celestia Spelman. They had four daughters and one son. Subsequently, Rockefeller said about his wife: “Her judgment was always better than mine. Without her good advice I would be a poor man."

Rockefeller became a lifelong member of the then new Republican Party, and a staunch supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionist wing of the party. He was a devoted member of the Erie Street Missionary Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday school, and served as custodian, clerk, and occasional usher. Religion was a guiding force throughout his life, and Rockefeller believed it was the source of his success. As he said, "God gave me the money," and he didn't apologize for it. All his life he adhered to the saying of the English preacher of the 18th century. John Wesley, who said: "Get All You Can, Save All You Can, and Give All You Can."

In 1866, his brother William Rockefeller built another oil refinery in Cleveland and entered into John's partnership. In 1867, a new partner joined the partnership and the firm was renamed Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler. This company became the predecessor of the Standard Oil Company.

By the end of the American Civil War, the city of Cleveland was one of the five major oil refining centers in the country (besides Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and the area in northwestern Pennsylvania). In June 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company in Ohio, which soon became the largest oil refiner in the state. The company also became the largest exporter of oil and kerosene in the country. In order to reduce transportation costs and be able to control freight rates, Rockefeller and his partners founded the South Improvement Company, which became part of Standard Oil. This made it possible to reduce costs for transporting products by up to 50%. All these Rockefeller moves caused a huge storm of indignation and protests from independent owners of oil wells, which was expressed in boycotts and vandalism. This entire action was supported by the New York oil company Charles Pratt and Company, headed by Charles Pratt and Henry Rogers. As a result, Rockefeller's transport company lasted only a year, but this was enough to save a lot and make a huge profit.

Undeterred or discouraged, John Rockefeller continued his onslaught on the oil market by buying up oil wells, seeking significant discounts on transportation, concluding secret deals and buying out competitors. Less than four months later in 1872, an event called the "Cleveland Conquest" or "Cleveland Massacre" occurred. Rockefeller's company absorbed 22 of its 26 competitors in Cleveland. Ultimately, even his former opponents, Pratt and Rogers, saw the futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil. In 1874, they entered into a secret merger agreement with Standard Oil and became partners with Rockefeller. In particular, Rogers became one of the key figures in the creation of Rockefeller's huge Standard Oil Trust corporation. Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt became General Secretary of Standard Oil. Rockefeller saw himself as the savior of industry, an “angel of mercy,” believing that by absorbing the weak he made industry stronger, more stable, more efficient, and more competitive. The company developed in all directions. This growth was expressed in the construction of new pipelines, tanker trucks, as well as the creation of the so-called home delivery network, not forgetting households. All these measures made it possible to keep fuel prices at a fairly low level, which contributed to the emergence of difficulties for new competitors to enter the market. New company Having decided to enter the market, it inevitably had to lower prices in order to compete with the technologically equipped and rapidly developing Rockefeller company, which would immediately lead itself to bankruptcy. Development also led to the discovery of more than 300 products based on oil refining. By the end of the 1870s, Standard Oil was already refining 90% of the oil in the United States. And John Rockefeller had already become a millionaire by that time.

In 1877 they began hostile relationship with Standard Oil's main rail carrier, the Pennsylvania Railroad. Rockefeller believed that the use of pipelines as an alternative transport system for the transportation of oil and petroleum products, which is more profitable for the company than rail transport. A company began to build oil pipelines. The Pennsylvania Railroad, seeing the prospect of losing its main customer and the threat of bankruptcy, struck back and founded an oil refining branch and built an oil refinery. Standard Oil was quick to accept the right decision, organizing its rail transportation and thus starting a price war that sharply reduced freight payments and caused labor unrest. Rockefeller eventually celebrated victory and the Pennsylvania Railroad sold all of its oil assets to Standard Oil. But for Rockefeller, all this hostility did not pass without a trace. In 1879, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania brought charges against Rockefeller for monopolizing the oil trade, which led to an avalanche of similar lawsuits in other regions and created the Standard Oil problem.

Gradually, Standard Oil gained almost complete control over refining oil, selling it in a horizontally integrated manner. But when selling kerosene, a vertical system was used. Kerosene was supplied directly to customers on special tank weights, thereby bypassing the existing network of wholesale intermediaries. The most powerful weapon Standard Oil's competitors were low prices and unofficial methods of transportation. The company has been attacked by journalists and politicians throughout its existence due to its monopolistic nature, thereby giving impetus to the revival of the antitrust movement. In 1880, the New York World published an article in which the following was written about the company: “the most cruel, insolent, ruthless, and tenacious monopolist that has ever taken aim at the country.” To his critics, Rockefeller responded: "In a business as large as ours, some things are likely to be done by methods which we cannot foresee or approve of. We correct them as soon as we become aware of them."

As Standard Oil grew, its management became increasingly complex and cumbersome. In 1882, Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative company structure by centralizing all subsidiaries into one large corporation, Standard Oil Trust. The new company became a huge corporation, the size and wealth of which attracted a lot of attention. In total, the corporation included 41 companies managed by Rockefeller and partners. The public and press were suspicious of the newly formed legal entity, but other firms followed suit new idea and began to imitate her, further outraged by the already distrustful public. Standard Oil Trust gained an aura of invincibility, always prevailing against competitors, critics, and political enemies. The company became the largest and richest business entity that was immune to economic booms and busts, increasing its profits every year.

Standard Oil's vast American empire included 20,000 oil wells, 4,000 miles of pipeline, 5,000 tank trucks and more than 100,000 employees. The Standard Oil Company reached its peak in the 1880s. Subsequently, Rockefeller abandoned his dream of managing all oil refining in the world and said: “We realized that public opinion it would be against us if we controlled all the oil refining in the world." In subsequent years, foreign competition and new geological explorations abroad destroyed the company's dominance in the world oil market. But Standard Oil still held 85% of the market share by supplying oil and its derivatives from the wells of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, large-scale oil development was underway in Russia and Asia. Robert Nobel established his own oil refining operation in the rich and cheaper Russian fields, building the region's first oil pipeline and the world's first oil tanker. Rich oil deposits were discovered in Java and Burma. Another factor in Standard Oil's downfall was the invention of the light bulb, which destroyed the dominance of kerosene in households. But the company adapted, developing its presence in Europe, as well as launching natural gas production in the United States. At that time, gasoline was still considered unnecessary and an unpromising product.

Standard Oil moved its headquarters to New York's 26th Street Broadway and Rockefeller immediately became a central figure in the city's business circles. He bought his own home on 54th Street near the mansions of other tycoons such as William Vanderbilt.

In 1890, a new bill known as the Sherman Act was approved, marking the beginning of the end of the Rockefeller empire.

In the 1890s, Rockefeller expanded his company's activities into development and transportation iron ore, which led to an open feud with steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Their enmity became the subject of discussion in newspaper articles and the appearance of various cartoons. Rockefeller went further, acquiring crude oil contracts in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia as Pennsylvania's old oil fields began to decline in importance. In addition to the frenetic expansion, Rockefeller began to think about retirement. The day-to-day management of the corporation was transferred to John Dustin Archbold.

One of the most massive information attacks on Rockefeller was associated with the publication of a book by American journalist Ida Tarbell " The History of the Standard Oil Company", in which she alleged Standard Oil's illegal practices in its operations. These practices included industrial espionage, price wars, high-handed marketing tactics, and evasion of legal cases. Although her work caused a huge backlash against the company , Tarbell claimed she was surprised by her size. She said: “I never had animosity against their size and wealth. I only wanted them to grow and develop, but only through legal means. But they never played fair." Rockefeller, when asked questions about "Miss Tarbarrel," as he called her, would only say, "not a word about that misinformed woman." Instead, he started a media campaign to paint a picture of his corporation. in the best light, despite the fact that for a long time he supported a policy of active silence with the press. He said: “capital and work force- wild forces that require intellectual legislation to keep them in check." In 1908 he wrote and published his memoirs.

Rockefeller remained president of the Standard Oil Company until 1911. This year, the United States Supreme Court found that the Rockefeller company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. By then, Standard Oil controlled 70% of the market share for refining oil. The court recognized Standard Oil as a monopolist and decided to split it into 34 separate companies. Now these companies are known under such names as Mobil, Exxon, Chevron. The collapse of the corporation increased Rockefeller's fortune to $900 million.

From his very first salary, Rockefeller began donating part of his earnings to charity. As his wealth grew, so did the scope of his philanthropy. In 1884, Rockefeller financed the creation of a college for African-American women in Atlanta, Spelman College. The oldest building on the Spelman College campus is named Rockefeller Hall in his honor. Rockefeller also gave significant donations to Denison University and other Baptist colleges.

In 1900, he gave $80 million to the University of Chicago, transforming the small Baptist college into a world-class institution.

In 1903, the Education Council was created, which was involved in the development of education for all segments of the population. In keeping with the historical mission of Baptists, "black schools" were especially supported in the South. Rockefeller also provided financial support to such universities as Yale University, Harvard, Columbia University, Brown University, Bryn Mawr College, Wellesley College and Vassar College.

Although John Rockefeller was a strong proponent of homeopathy, he became one of the great benefactors of medical science. In 1901 he founded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York. In 1965, the institute was renamed Rockefeller University after a decision was made to train and graduate new specialists. Since then, the university has trained many specialists in their field, among whom were 23 future Nobel laureates.

In 1913, he created the Rockefeller Foundation, to which he gave $250 million for the development of health care, medical training and the development of the arts. In 1918, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund was created to support the development of the social sciences. The Foundation later merged with the Rockefeller Foundation. IN total Rockefeller donated approximately $550 million.

Rockefeller once said that in his youth he had two great aspirations in life, to earn $100,000 and to live 100 years.

John Davison Rockefeller died on May 23, 1937 at the age of 97. heart attack at his home in Ormond Beach, Florida, just shy of 100 years old. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

John Rockefeller is a name known to every adult inhabitant of the earth. Having no starting capital, in addition to his own hard work and perseverance, Rockefeller managed to put together the richest business empire in the world. During life and after death, there were many rumors, gossip and various judgments around this person. Enough time has already passed to take a sober look at the history of a man who created himself and transformed our world.

Saint-Ecupery once said that we all come from childhood. Following this rule, let us consider the unique person that John represents. This personality began quite simply. Our hero was born in 1839 in Richford, New York. The family was hard-working and the father was a carouser. Accustomed to working since childhood, John viewed wealth as a blessing from God. Possessing a kind heart, little John still managed to develop sobriety of thinking and a certain isolation. His focused lifestyle set him apart from his peers. It looked like he was constantly solving some kind of super task. Every Sunday, the Rockefeller family, excluding his father, attended church, and the boy found sincere pleasure in this. The devout mother passed on to her son the entire ethics of Protestantism, which required perseverance, work and virtue. The father, possessing an adventurous character, did not care at all about his wife and children, although in moments of enlightenment he told his son about successful deals and ways of doing business. And yet, at a certain point, he simply ran away, leaving his family to their own devices. Therefore, lovingly caring for his mother until the end of her days, John Davison Rockefeller did not even go to his father’s funeral.

At age 16, after leaving the farm, the young man began looking for work in Cleveland. After 6 weeks, his efforts were crowned with success, he received the long-awaited position of assistant accountant. All his energy and zeal went into work; with great difficulty he restrained himself from doing accounting calculations on Sundays when he attended church. A life of hard work and complete asceticism gave its first results. Promotions began, but John Rockefeller quickly realized that in this way he would not be able to earn the desired $100,000. With little capital he started his own entrepreneurial activity for the sale of food products.

He managed to make his first serious capital through speculation during the Civil War. Yet the real wealth came from oil when the Standard Oil Company was founded in 1865. Winning the competition, he bought up the companies of his opponents until he became a monopolist in this area. From then on the foundation was laid great empire Rockefellers.

It often happens that a successful businessman is not happy in family life. John Rockefeller refuted this rule with his example. Having married for love, he found in Laura Spelman not only an excellent mother for his children, but also a comrade-in-arms, a like-minded person, whose support he valued above all else. He walked hand in hand with her throughout his life, completely sharing his views and methods of education. Being richest family in America, they did not spend money on elaborate outfits, they repaired old dresses with their own hands, and strictly controlled expenses. From childhood, children were accustomed to work, to the fact that rewards must be earned. Market relations were transferred to the family. Money was given for certain correct actions and responsibilities; bad deeds were marked with fines. Through the strictness of his upbringing, John Rockefeller paid tribute to the need to raise worthy replacements for his business.

With his devilish tenacity for business, Rockefeller understood the responsibility God placed on the steward of such wealth. Therefore, charitable activities became an integral part of his life. Sometimes he spent sums on gifts for other people’s children that far exceeded the maintenance of his own offspring. And yet, both during his life and after his death, he was accompanied by criticism regarding his acquisitiveness. After all, in order to build universities and hospitals, it was necessary to profit at the expense of the entire nation.

The Puritan lifestyle and determination helped John Rockefeller accomplish almost all the tasks that he set for himself. The last of them was to live a hundred years. It was not possible to complete it; a little over two years were not enough.

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 the surrounding residents 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 free time devoted a lot of time to his son and, in particular, taught him how to trade. William, as they would say now, arranged unique trainings for his son by buying and selling various services of his son. 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 Father John a very strange man who did not want to work, but simply, a quitter. However, William managed to save some money and buy a plot of land and invest some funds 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 entire household (there were six children in the family. John is the second child in the family), 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 cheating spouse.

John later said that he began to engage in commerce from the very beginning. early childhood. Many people find it disgusting that the future millionaire bought candy in the store and then sold it individually to his 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 are 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 had bought these sweets in a store, which means they believed that they were committing 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

In the same year, when he issued 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 of 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. U young Rockefeller, at that time, there was 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 it 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 via railway.

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 is a 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 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 in 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 creating 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 a very great success 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 a capital stock of $1 million. And in this new company, John Rockefeller's share was 27%. And from that moment on, a real war began between oil producers and refiners, 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 North America in his hands. 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 has a success story that begins with Standard Oil. To put it more precisely: 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 a 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 attempted to estimate Rockefeller's wealth in modern terms. 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 a particularly 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, is made up 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...

John Davison Rockefeller is the richest man in the world in the history of mankind.

The future billionaire was born on July 8, 1839 in Richford, New York. Both parents, William Avery Rockefeller and Louise Selianto, were members of the Baptist Church. The family raised six children, of whom John was the second oldest. William worked as a traveling salesman and from childhood instilled in his children the ability to trade. To do this, his father paid John to do household chores. During periods when William was away, his mother, who did not work anywhere and was only involved in housework, had to save, and Louise instilled this ability in her offspring.

The world's first billionaire John Rockefeller

Little John is already with early age He showed commercial savvy - he sold sweets to his sisters, which he bought in bulk. And at the age of 7, the boy joined his neighbors on a farm, where he earned his first money by picking potatoes and raising turkeys. From the very first days of his working life, Rockefeller kept a ledger where he carefully entered income and expenses.

Young John gave the impression of a quiet, thoughtful boy to those around him. The lean and unemotional child thought for a long time and was in no hurry to make a decision. But in fact, John was a very sensitive boy, and he was experiencing loss sister, who died as an infant. After the girl's death, John lay prone on the grass away from home for 12 hours.

Rockefeller did not like to study at school, although teachers noted the boy’s tenacious memory and ability to think logically. During his student years, John started a moneylending business. Rockefeller realized that by lending small amounts at low interest rates, he could make money easily. The boy did not want to become a slave to money and work for a salary day and night; John decided to make money his own slaves and make it work for himself. After graduating from school, John became a student at a commercial college, so the young businessman took a three-month accounting course, where he learned the necessary basics of managing money.

Business

In 1855, John got his first and only hired job at Hewitt & Tuttle in the accounting department. The young man started with a salary of $17, but after a few months the young man received a raise to $25. A year later, Rockefeller was appointed manager of the company. John began to receive a salary 20 times more than the accounting salary. But the ambitious young man was not satisfied with this amount, since the previous manager was paid much more and, without working even a year, John quits to start his own business.

In order to become a partner of a businessman from Great Britain, Rockefeller had to borrow $1,200 from his own father at 10% per annum. Having collected the necessary $2,000, Rockefeller became a partner and owner of shares in the company Clark and Rochester. The company traded agricultural products. Rockefeller quickly won the trust of his partners with his business acumen, intuition and sincerity. The young man began managing the financial affairs of the enterprise.

In the second half of the 19th century, the development of a new market area began in America - the oil refining business, as kerosene lamps began to be popular in everyday life. John Davison Rockefeller invites practicing chemist Samuel Andrews to cooperate and makes the scientist a partner in the new company Andrews and Clark. Clark's previous partner did not want to participate in such a business, and John had to buy out a stake in the company and take over the management of the business.

At 31, Rockefeller created the Standard Oil company, which dealt full cycle kerosene production, from oil production to the sale of finished products. A peculiarity of doing business was that John did not pay employees in cash. The businessman gave out incentives with shares of the enterprise. This approach allowed employees to work with greater responsibility, since now their well-being directly depended on the success of the company.

Rockefeller's business development proceeded at a rapid pace. Thanks to his entrepreneurial spirit and ability to negotiate with influential people, John achieved reduced prices for freight transportation by rail for his own company. Compared to its competitors, Standard Oil's petroleum products were transported 2-3 times cheaper. Rockefeller thus forced others oil companies sell production to Standard Oil. Thus, the enterprising businessman turned into a monopolist.

In 1890, the anti-monopoly law of Senator Sherman was passed in the United States, which was directed against the activities of the Standard Oil company. Over the course of 20 years, Rockefeller was forced to split production into 34 controlled enterprises. In each of them, John secured the right to own a controlling stake. This division of business had a positive effect on the tycoon’s capital; Rockefeller increased his own income many times over.

State

John Rockefeller's annual income from the activities of Standard Oil was $3 million. At the time of his death, according to experts, the oil magnate's fortune was $1.4 billion. The company owned 70% of all the world's oil fields. In terms of the current dollar exchange rate, this is $318 billion or 1.5% of the GDP of the United States. Rockefeller owned 16 railroad companies, 6 steel mills, and 6 shipping companies. The businessman owned 9 banks and 9 real estate companies.

At the end of his life, Rockefeller surrounded himself with luxury, but did not advertise this to society. The tycoon's family owned orange groves, villas and mansions, and a land plot of 273 hectares. John Rockefeller's favorite game was golf, so the billionaire had a playing field at his disposal for his personal use. The tycoon explained his own well-being by discipline and maintaining 12 golden rules of life, which John developed in his youth.

Charity

John Rockefeller attended a Protestant church from childhood and, as an exemplary Christian, from the very first earnings he began to donate tithes to the needs of the parish he visited. The oilman did not change his own habit until the end of his life. The tycoon donated $100 million. In addition to donating to the church, Rockefeller did a lot of charity work. John transferred sums of money to the University of Chicago and the New York Institute for Medical Research, of which John was the founder. At the beginning of the 20th century, Rockefeller created the Council for Universal Education and the Rockefeller Foundation.

The oil tycoon wrote a number of biographical books, the first of which was the 1909 publication “Memoirs of People and Events.” In 1910, Rockefeller’s book “How I Made $500,000,000” about the history of enrichment was published. In 1913, the entrepreneur wrote the book “Memoirs”, in which he outlined everything Interesting Facts own biography.

Personal life

At the age of 25, John Rockefeller married teacher Laura Celestia Spelman from a wealthy family. The girl attracted the groom with her piety. Young people were united mutual feeling love for each other and views on life and family well-being. Both were extremely economical and unpretentious in their desires.

The Rockefeller family had 4 daughters and the only heir was the son John D. Rockefeller Jr., who continued his father’s work. Even when Rockefeller purchased the Cleveland oil refinery, the family continued to live in rented housing and did not have servants. As the oil magnate himself wrote, John owes his commercial success to his wife.

After the death of his wife, John Rockefeller lived for a long time. The oilman fell in love with female company and gradually got used to wearing expensive suits. Rockefeller's favorite headdress was a straw hat, in which the elderly entrepreneur often posed for photographs.

John raised his children in an original way. Each child had an account book in which monetary rewards and expenses were recorded. In the Rockefeller house there was a certain system of rewarding children for their work. John rewarded his daughters and son for their refusal of any benefits. For example, for a day without candy, a child was entitled to a sum of money.

John D. Rockefeller Jr. increased the fortunes of the family corporation many times over. And five grandchildren, the most famous of whom were Nelson, Winthrop and, participated in political and economic life USA until the beginning of the 21st century.

Death

John Rockefeller had two dreams in life that did not come true: to live to be 100 years old and earn $100 thousand. But death overtook the entrepreneur at the age of 97, and his fortune amounted to $192 billion. John Rockefeller died on May 23, 1937 of a heart attack in Florida .

Quotes

Famous oil tycoon quotes:

He who works all day has no time to earn money;

Your well-being depends on your own decisions;

If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.

Rockefeller's 12 rules

1. Work less for people. The more you work for yourself, the faster you become poor. The word "work" has the root "slave".
2. The right way to save money is to take a step towards success. Buy products where it is cheaper or in bulk, prepare a list of what you need in advance, purchase products according to the list.
3. If you are poor, start doing business. If you don’t have a penny at all, then you should open a business right now, without delaying for a minute.
4. The path to success, the road to great wealth, passes through passive income.
5. Dream of earning at least $50,000 a month, and possibly more.
6. Money comes to you through other people. Communication and goodwill make people rich. An unsociable person rarely becomes rich.
7. A poor environment, unsuccessful people drag you along with you into poverty and failure. You need to surround yourself with winners and optimists.
8. Don’t come up with an excuse for the possibility of postponing the first step towards achieving your goal - there is none.
9. Study the biographies and thoughts of the world's richest people who have achieved success. The life story of a successful person will help fulfill everyone’s desires - that’s the meaning of this quote.
10. Dreams are the most important thing in your life. The main thing is to dream and believe that dreams will come true. A person begins to die when he stops dreaming.
11. Help people not for money, but from the bottom of your heart. Donate 10% of profits to charity. That is, every person should help those in need. This is evidenced by the success story of John Rockefeller.
12. Create a business system and enjoy your earned money. The meaning of this quote is that a person should work in order to live happily, and not stupidly accumulate wealth.

John Davison - senior

“I have always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.”

They called him the devil, and by the end of his life John Davison Rockefeller Sr. really became like him. Absolutely naked, bony head - no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, no mustache, thin string lips and small, attentive, hard eyes.
The workers' wives frightened their children with them: “Don't cry, otherwise he will take you away!” The paradox was that the richest man in the world was most proud of his impeccable morals: he was raised in strict rules, and he followed them all his life...
(“It was very quiet boy“,” one of the townspeople recalled many years later, “he always thought.” From the outside John looked distracted: it seemed as if the child was constantly struggling with some insoluble problem. The impression was deceptive - the boy was distinguished by a tenacious memory, a death grip and unshakable calm: when playing checkers, he transferred partners, thinking about each move for half an hour, and never lost. “You don’t think that I play in order to lose” Stern face covered with dry skin Jonah Davison and his eyes, devoid of a boyish sparkle, truly frightened those around him. He never knew how to enjoy life.
But John was a very practical young man: he knew how to benefit even from the weaknesses of his relatives. The grandfather was weak-willed, friendly and talkative, and the child eradicated complacency and talkativeness from himself once and for all - he decided that these qualities were characteristic of losers. His mother was distinguished by hard work, devotion to duty and an iron will - having matured, John will work from dawn until the first stars, forcibly restraining himself from Sunday accounting classes. And the brilliant schemer William had a tender, almost sensual love for money: he loved to pour banknotes onto his desk and bury his hands in them, and one day he came out to the children, waving a tablecloth made of banknotes... His passion was passed on to his son.
John He became neither a libertine nor a bigamist; unlike his father, he was never sued for rape, but nevertheless he learned a lot from his father. From early childhood, he was involved in business: he bought a pound of candy, divided it into small piles and sold it at a markup to his own sisters, caught wild turkeys and raised them for sale. The future billionaire carefully put the proceeds into a piggy bank; he soon began lending it to his father at a reasonable interest rate.
Few people knew the other, human side of his nature. Human feelings John Davison hid it in the farthest pocket and buttoned it up. Meanwhile, he was a sensitive boy: when his sister died, John ran into the backyard, threw himself on the ground and lay there all day. And having matured, he did not become such a monster as he was portrayed: once he asked about a classmate whom he once liked (he just liked him - he was a highly moral young man); Upon learning that she was widowed and in poverty, the owner of Standard Oil immediately granted her a pension. It is almost impossible to judge what he really was like: he subordinated all thoughts, all feelings, all desires to one great goal - to get rich. He turned himself into the ideal business machine, an apparatus for producing business ideas, exploiting subordinates and suppressing competitors. Everything that could interfere with this was rejected: John Davison had to either die from overwork or become rich. And because he turned into not just a wealthy man, but the richest man in the world, he was obliged to a brilliant intuition and an uncanny business sense - qualities that even his own mother could not discern that she knew Jonah like the back of my hand.

He turns sixteen and leaves for Cleveland: a decently dressed young man with a bony face goes around large firms and asks the owners to meet. This goes on six days a week for six weeks straight - John looking for a position as an accountant. The heat is unbearable, but a young man in a tight black suit and dark tie stubbornly walks from one office to another - he does not want to return to the farm.

On September 26, the Hewitt and Tuttle firm hired him as an assistant accountant - this day he will celebrate as his rebirth. The fact that he was given his first salary only four months later did not matter at all - he was launched into the shining world of business, and he cheerfully moved towards the coveted hundred thousand dollars.

John behaved as a lover might behave: it seemed that the quiet accountant was in a state of erotic madness. In a fit of passion, he wildly shouts into the ear of a peacefully working colleague: “I am doomed to become rich!” The poor guy jumps to the side, and just in time - the joyful cry is repeated two more times. he doesn’t drink (even coffee!) and doesn’t smoke, doesn’t go to dances or the theater, but he gets acute pleasure from the sight of a check for four thousand dollars - he constantly takes it out of the safe and examines it again and again. The girls invite him on a date, and the young clerk replies that he can only meet them in church: he feels like God’s chosen one, and the temptations of the flesh do not bother him. knows that the Lord blesses the righteous, and turns his life into a constant feat - he comes to work at 6.30 in the morning, and leaves so late that he has to promise himself to finish his accounting no later than ten in the evening. And God gives him what he wanted.

True love sweeps away all barriers: John he was crazy about money, and it came to him in droves. When he felt that they could be scared away, he became gentle and insinuating; when strength was needed, he fought for them, without thinking about the consequences. He turned twenty-five, and his acquaintances thought that he was forever betrothed to accounting. .. But in life there is always a place for a miracle - one girl was waiting Jonah for nine years now.
Laura Celeste Spelman was born into a wealthy and respected family. She read a lot, tried herself in literary editing and qualified in all respects. Laura was a typical Puritan: dancing and theater seemed to him the personification of vice, but in church she rested her soul... The future Mrs. preferred black to all colors.
They met at school: he confessed his love to her - she replied that first he needed to achieve something in life, find a good job, become wealthy man... From the outside, this story seems immensely sad, but in reality everything was different.
The bony boy by this time had turned into a tall, fit and very attractive young man, and Laura (the family called her Setti) became a pretty girl. She was well versed in music (three hours of daily piano lessons!). He is also a good musician (his exercises irritated Eliza, who was busy with housework). Besides John failed to freeze himself completely - Setty knew that he could be a very kind person.
He paid $118 for the diamond ring - for him it was a real feat. He did not repeat it: the wedding was modest, the house into which the young people moved after honeymoon, rented it cheaply, they had no servants. By this time, he owned the largest oil refinery in Cleveland, the bride's parents were wealthy and respected people in the city, but news of the wedding did not appear in the newspapers - he did not like it when people talked about him. His subordinates and competitors were afraid like hell, but his wife considered him a kind person.
Exactly at 9.15 he appeared at Standard Oil, gradually turning into one of largest companies countries. A tall figure, a pale, clean-shaven face, an umbrella and gloves in his hands, a white silk hat on his head, black onyx cufflinks with the letter “R” engraved on them peeking out from the cuffs. quietly greets his subordinates, inquires about their health, and slips through the door of his office like a black shadow. He never raises his voice, never gets nervous, never changes his face - it’s impossible to piss him off. One day, an angry contractor burst into his home, screaming for half an hour without a break. All this time he sat staring at the table, and when the angry, red as a lobster fat man was exhausted, he raised his imperturbable face and quietly said: “Sorry, please, I didn’t catch what you were talking about. Can’t repeatN..”

He dined at a once and for all set time: after the milk and cookies were eaten, the owner of Standard Oil made a tour of his property. He walked with a measured, noiseless gait - he always covered a certain distance in the same time. He appeared in front of his clerks' desks like a jack-in-the-box, smiled sweetly, asked how work in progress, and people were horrified. he was a good boss - he paid a salary higher than anyone else, awarded excellent pensions, issued sick leave - but those who contradicted him were treated mercilessly. He always had a kind word for his subordinates, and yet they were mortally afraid of him. The horror he inspired was of a mystical nature - his own secretary insisted that he had never seen He enters and exits the company building. Apparently, he used secret doors and secret corridors (ill-wishers said that the millionaire flew into his office through the chimney). Scarecrow and his house: spartan furnishings, quiet voices, taciturn, well-trained children. Only its residents knew how friendly they lived here.

The owner of Standard Oil taught children music, swam with them, and skated with them; if one of the little ones whined at night,
immediately woke up and rushed to his bed. He never quarreled with his wife and took touching care of his mother. Eliza grew old, began to get sick, and when the next attack happened, He I dropped everything, went to her and sat by her bed until my mother felt better. (But two of his children went to the civil war; his brother almost died of hunger, and he took their bodies from the family crypt: “I don’t want them to lie in the ground of this monster!” And already in business he was absolutely ruthless.

It was rumored that the capital was five million dollars. This was not true - in the eighties of the 19th century, his company was valued at $18 million (the modern equivalent is $265 million). entered the twenty richest and most powerful people in the country and began an offensive against competitors: he entered into an agreement with railway kings, and they raised transportation tariffs. Small oil companies went bankrupt, large capitalists transferred their stakes: he soon became a monopolist in the oil market and was able to set his own, prohibitive prices for oil, which at the beginning of the twentieth century became a strategic commodity. The dreadnought race began: the great powers built more and more huge battleships, the fuel for which was fuel oil extracted from oil. Standard Oil turned into a transnational company, its interests spread throughout the globe, its fortune amounted to tens and then hundreds of millions of dollars. At the turn of the century, he was recognized as the richest man in the world: newspapers wrote that his fortune was close to eight and a half billion dollars. His monopoly was called "the wisest and most dishonest of all that ever existed."

He knew that by becoming rich, he was fulfilling God’s predestination - in Protestant ethics, wealth was considered as a blessing from above. His employees recalled how during one of the meetings, where they talked about the gloomy prospects of the company (it was about the fact that electric lighting will soon supplant kerosene), raised his hand to the sky and solemnly said: “The Lord will take care!” And he took care - the First began World War, and all navies switched to oil.

According to the Protestant faith, wealth is not a privilege, but a duty - he began to give away part of what he earned. When John Davison started out, his fortune amounted to thousands of dollars, and all the money went into business. Now that he had hundreds of millions, it was time for charitable charity. For a month, fifty thousand letters came to him asking for help - as far as possible, he answered them and sent checks to people. He helped found the University of Chicago, established scholarships, paid pensions - all this was paid for by the consumer, who was forced to pay for kerosene and gasoline as much as Standard Oil needed. Half of America dreamed of kicking out the gypsies. Jonah Davison more money, the other half was ready to lynch him. grew old; the passions boiling around got on his nerves. Sometimes he sighed: “Wealth is either a great blessing or a curse.”

Raising children was also a responsibility: they were to inherit a huge fortune, and this was a great responsibility. He knew that God’s gift could not be wasted, and with all his might he taught his children to work, modesty and unpretentiousness. John Rockefeller Jr. later said that as a child, money seemed to him a mysterious substance: “It was omnipresent and invisible. We knew there was a lot of money, but we also knew it was unaffordable.” For someone who, until the age of eight, was dressed in girls’ dresses (they wore old clothes one after another, and they didn’t have a second boy), the future billionaire spoke very softly.

John Rockefeller Sr. created a model of a market economy 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. Each of the children had their own bed in the garden - ten weeds pulled out cost one penny. Rockefeller Jr. earned fifteen cents an hour for chopping wood, one of the daughters received money for going around the house in the evenings and turning off the lights. For being late for the little ones' breakfast
they were fined one cent, they received one piece of cheese a day, and on Sundays they were not allowed to read anything except the Bible.

Setti wore her own patched dresses and was in no way inferior to her husband: he was generous and was about 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...”

But still John Davison felt great. The loss of his beloved wife was a heavy blow (“I had the only beloved in my life, and I am happy that I had her.”), But he pulled himself together and lived to be almost a hundred years old: he set such a deadline for himself and did not live up to it by any means. something like two years.

By this time, America had turned into a country of cars (and gasoline, as you know, is also made from oil), and wealth had increased to absolutely fantastic proportions. John Davison grew older, but remained strong and vigorous. “This is compensation for giving up theaters, clubs and frivolous entertainment, which long ago undermined the health of many of my acquaintances.”). Now he could afford what he was deprived of as a child: he became interested in sports, learned to play golf well and mastered a racing bicycle. The old man drove with his hand on the steering wheel and holding an open umbrella over his head; those around him gasped, and here he jumped with both feet onto the saddle. He fell in love with women: during car rides, he was usually accompanied by two beautiful companions - their knees were prudently covered with a shawl, from under which he did not remove his hands. Towards the end of his life he became like an cannibal.

He fell ill with alopecia and lost all the hair on his body. Without eyebrows, eyelashes and a mustache, he became truly scary: those around him shied away - it seemed as if death was walking towards them. The fact that he was addicted to wigs added additional charm to the picture: all hairstyles and all shades were represented in his collection. In addition, he became a great fashionista: now his favorite suit consisted of a yellow straw hat, a blue silk jacket and a bright Japanese vest, the ensemble was completed with dark glasses. One fine day, he didn’t recognize his own president, who was giving a dinner in his honor, “What’s wrong with you, Charlin I’m Mister!”). Journalists hinted that the multimillionaire had fallen into insanity, but this did not even remotely resemble the truth.

My mind hasn't changed with age. He ruled his empire with an iron fist: Standard Oil alone brought in three million dollars annually (it would be fifty million today). He owned sixteen railroad companies, six steel companies, nine real estate companies, six shipping companies, nine banks, and three orange groves—all of which produced abundant cash crops. But he did not delve into the details of business transactions: he had a more exciting pastime - he was trying to outplay death. Having achieved everything he dreamed of, he now wanted to live to be a hundred years old: the cherished date was close, and the task seemed feasible. Death seemed to him to be a business partner like everyone else - he could also be fooled around his finger. In 1935
celebrated his ninety-sixth birthday and the insurance company sent him a check for five million dollars. This was the first case in the entire history of the company - according to statistics, only one person out of a hundred thousand survives to this age.

The doctors prescribed a diet, and he happily followed it. They prescribed dosed physical exercise, and he sluggishly pedaled the exercise bike, listening to sermons on the radio. Up to a hundred years John Davison fell just short: on May 23, 1937, he died of a heart attack.
The day before, they chatted with Henry Ford: he made an appointment with his interlocutor in heaven. Ford chuckled and replied that they would not meet there. Only God (or the devil - if they are listed under his department) knows where Ford is talking now, but the empire is flourishing.

John Rockefeller is still considered richest man in US history . If you compare the dollar of that time and today, then Warren Buffett, with all due respect to him, was not even close to the most famous oil tycoon in history.

Many people adored Rockefeller because he, being pious man, spent a fair share of his income on charity.

Really helping both the country and many people who lived in it. At the same time, for many, He was associated with the devil, who always took what he needed in business. No matter the situation. It was precisely such a person who could get rich during the oil boom in the United States, which then could only be compared with the gold rush or today’s boom in Internet startups... You could instantly make a fortune and just as quickly lose it.

Read more...