Rockefeller

“Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mellon, Gould, Morgan, all were just beginning their careers when Vanderbilt stood at his zenith. They studied him, and they followed his example, though few would match his impact.”

“When he turned 96, his insurance company, honoring an old policy, had to pay him five million dollars.”

“Rockefeller hired chemists instead and would, in time, put a working laboratory inside every refinery he built and owned.”

“With other refiners paying three dollars a barrel, Rockefeller was soon building his own for a dollar 50.”

“Rockefeller owned roughly a quarter of every new company, worth about three hundred million the day the court ruled. His fortune skyrocketed to nearly nine hundred million just two years later.”

“39 drops became the standard across every plant the company owned. One drop of solder multiplied across what was eventually millions of cans easily saved hundreds of thousands of dollars.”