Legends Of The Rockefeller - Don`T Be Afraid To Give Up The Good For The Great

"If your only goal is to become rich, you`ll never become rich"

- John D. Rockefeller

Born on a farm in Richford, John D Rockefeller started his career as a clerk in Cleveland at the age of 16, whose greatest ambitions were to earn a million dollars and live 100 years.

His formal business training included a ten-week class in accounting.

With 2000 USD in his fundsm John formed a partnership withMaurice B Clark and entered in oil business in 1863. In 1870, Standard Oil Company was formed. John’s talent at streamlining operations along with stable economic condition led to a consistently high profit margin for Standard Oil from its early days. Inspired and motivated by the company`s success they began a takeover strategy, as a result, within two years Standard Oil controlled almost all refineries in the Cleveland area. Following this, Standard Oil cemented partnerships with transport companies to transport his oil at the cheapest possible rate. It is said that the company bought up land to prevent rivals from establishing their own transportation infrastructure finally establishing a monopoly that refined nearly 90 percent of America`s oil.

Hence, he became the wealthiest man of his time and one of the wealthiest in history. In 1916, John D. Rockefeller became the world`s first billionaire. To compare with the modern time, his net share would be at par with four times that of Bill gates. In 1890, he donated almost $600,000 to fund the establishment of University of Chicago. He also founded The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, now known as Rockefeller University(image below).

Soon after, the Sherman Antitrust Act was introduced, which stated that attempt to monopolise commerce in the US is illegal. This clearly meant that Standard oil was in violation of the law. His brain child, Standard Oil, was dissolved in 1911 and hence handed over the management to each subsidiary. Many of its spinoffs became today’s most powerful oil companies, includingChevron and Exxon-Mobil.

The legendary family ranks 24th on Forbes’ list. Today, members of the family continue the philanthropic flagship, the Rockefeller Foundation, which commands more than $3.5 billion. From the oil industry, higher education, medical research and the arts to Wall Street, the Rockefellers have had an unquestionable impact round the globe.

In 1909 he founded a charitable organization named ‘Sr. was the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission’ with its primary goal to eradicate hookworm disease across the southern United States. Surprisingly, within less than 20 years, the Commission had already achieved this goal along with a few primary other goals.

Rockefeller was devoutly religious, a temperance advocate and a golfer. Although his goal was to reach the age of 100; however, he died at 97 on May 23, 1937. After his death, his assets totaled 1.5% of U.S. economic production.

John Rockefeller said:

“The rich man shouldn’t die rich, the rich man should die having done good things with the wealth he has created”