Rockefeller's Secret:
From a young age, he discovered that money well used generates capital, and he insisted on finding his opportunity. Discipline, organization and a strong energy were some of the traits of who became one of the most powerful men in the world, for whom making money was a natural talent
John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937) was an American industrialist, born in Richford (New York), on July 8, 1839; studied in several public schools of Cleveland (Ohio). At 16 he was a librarian in Cleveland.
In 1862 he teamed up with Samuel Andrews, inventor of a revolutionary process for refining crude oil. After rapid expansion, the company was absorbed in 1870 by the Standard Oil Company, created by Rockefeller, his brother William, and several others.
In early 1872, Rockefeller helped create the South Improvement Company, an association that encompassed the major oil refiners in Cleveland, reaching agreements with the railroad companies to obtain significant discounts for members of the association. This deal was legally annulled three months later, to public protests, but by then almost all of Rockefeller's competitors had been forced to either sell or partner with him. In 1878 Rockefeller controlled 90% of the oil refineries in the United States and shortly thereafter exercised a monopoly on the distribution channels.
In 1882 Rockefeller created the Standard Oil Trust, which was the world's first trust, declared an illegal monopoly and forced to be dissolved by the Ohio Superior Court of Justice in 1892 but which, in fact, was not dissolved until 1899. That year, Rockefeller established the Standard Oil Company in New Jersey, being its president until his retirement in 1911. This same year the company was divided into several corporations by order of the Superior Court of Justice of the United States.
Rockefeller's personal fortune is estimated to have reached $ 1 billion. His philanthropic contributions reached 550 million. Of these, 80% went to four charitable organizations created by Rockefeller: the Rockefeller Foundation, the General Education Board, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University) and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, created in 1918 and absorbed by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1929. Rockefeller died on May 23, 1937 in Ormond Beach, Florida.
Some details: Rockefeller was the descendant of German-Jewish immigrants who arrived in the United States in 1733. During his modest beginnings as an accountant for the Hewit and Tuttle firm, the young John Davison undertook the writing of a kind of economic journal which he entitled "Ledger TO". That curious record, which is still preserved today, and the annotations contained in his autobiographical book "Random Reminiscences", offer a masterful sketch of his personality, in which they combined, in equal parts and in a kind of perfect symbiosis, the austere mischief of the peddler and the boundless ambition of the predatory businessman.
The curious
From a very young age John D. Rockefeller manifested his talent for financial transactions. Installed with his family in Cleveland, around 1853, he sold stones of different colors and shapes to his schoolmates and the minimum income that these sales earned was accumulated in a blue china bowl, his "first safe" in his own words.. It was not long before he found the handsome sum of $ 50, which would determine the boy's future orientation.
A nearby farmer needed just that sum to pay off an urgent debt. John loaned it to him… but at 7% interest! After a year, he was shocked to discover that his borrowed capital was returning to his pocket with $ 31/2 in interest. From that date, as he later wrote, "I decided to make money work for me."
From then on all his earnings would be religiously recorded in a notebook he called "the A record." John D. was born on a farm in western New York State in 1839. His father, William Avery, was neither a model of marital fidelity or an example to his six children. Away from the family bosom for long periods, when he returned his pockets were usually full of money and he inevitably returned loaded with gifts for his wife and her children. Much later, John would discover that his father was nothing more than an imposter, visiting the Indian reservations, selling all sorts of cheap items to their inhabitants. His next lode was much more profitable: pharmaceuticals, which he sold as a panacea for cancer. From his mother, Eliza. John inherited not only the physical, but also the strict Calvinistic morals.His innate taste for business was stimulated by Cleveland Business School, from which he graduated at age 16. That same year he obtained his first job in a company of brokers and grain merchants, where he worked with general approval without noticing schedules, lost in that sea of figures that he was so passionate about. At night, in his bed, he would mentally review the day's financial operations, trying to figure out where he could have made better profits.He was going through the day's financial transactions in his mind, trying to figure out where he could have made better profits.He was going through the day's financial transactions in his mind, trying to figure out where he could have made better profits.
The code of your life
'Discipline, order and a faithful record of debts and credits' was the code of his life ever since. By the third year she was already earning $ 600 a year, but when she was denied a $ 200 raise, she decided to set up for herself. She had $ 800 saved, but she still had another $ 1,000 to go before she launched her own brokerage. Her father advanced it to her with an annual interest of 10%, until she reached the age of majority. The firm Clark & Rockefeller obtained, the first year, earnings of U $ S 4,000 and in the second quadrupled the sum.
Strength and a sense of opportunity
The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 was the key to his fortune. Two years earlier, with the drilling of the first oil well, he realized that he could make more fortune with its transportation and refining than with exploitation. When in 1863 the Atlantic and Western Railway Company extended its line to Cleveland, putting this city in direct contact with New York through the oil region, he knew the time had come. He was 23 years old and invested $ 4,000 as a limited partner in the new firm Clark, Andrews & Co. Refineries were springing up like mushrooms in Cleveland and his enthusiasm for black gold led him to abandon the grain trade. When his partner Clark refused to expand the firm (he was afraid of the liability of US $ 100.00), they decided to auction the company.On February 2, 1865, the stakes rose rapidly, and a dejected Clark offered $ 72,000. Rockefeller, unfazed, returned with $ 72,500 and took the company. The business, which would henceforth be called Rockefeller and Andrews, was Cleveland's largest refinery, with a capacity of 500 barrels per day and profits of one million dollars per year, which would double the following year. He was thus able to negotiate preferential rates with the railroad, and this discount was an essential weapon in founding, in 1870, a new company, with 1 million dollars of capital: Standard Oil.with a capacity of 500 barrels per day and profits of one million dollars per year, which would double the following year. He was thus able to negotiate preferential rates with the railroad, and this discount was an essential weapon in founding, in 1870, a new company, with 1 million dollars of capital: Standard Oil.with a capacity of 500 barrels per day and profits of one million dollars per year, which would double the following year. He was thus able to negotiate preferential rates with the railroad, and this discount was an essential weapon in founding, in 1870, a new company, with 1 million dollars of capital: Standard Oil.
An empire is born
In 1870, it was one of the largest downtown refineries in the United States.
In 1872, together with two of the most important refiners in Pittsburg and Philadelphia, they were able to handle the tariffs with the railroads at will. In three months, Rockefeller had bought 22 of Cleveland's 25 refineries. Standard Oil refined a quarter of all the country's oil production. With the competition eliminated step by step, Standard Oil became a powerful trust, refining 95% of the country's total capacity. Its management team consisted of a group of the most capable financiers in the country. They were all millionaires. For Rockefeller, personnel choice had always been a huge ingredient; he chose the most capable and enthusiastic.
