The Ledger
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In 1863, crude oil averaged $2/barrel while refined kerosene sold for $13/barrel
“Crude averaged two dollars a barrel, while refined kerosene sold for 13, and a refinery could be built for a thousand dollars and run with just a handful of men.”
Rockefeller Halved Barrel Costs From Three Dollars Through In-House Manufacturing
“With other refiners paying three dollars a barrel, Rockefeller was soon building his own for a dollar 50.”
Standard Oil Saved Hundreds of Thousands by Cutting One Solder Drop
“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.”
Standard Oil Secretly Acquired 22 of 26 Cleveland Refineries in Four Weeks
“In four weeks, between mid-February and mid-March, 1872, Standard Oil bought out 22 of Cleveland's 26 refineries.”
Parrish: Rockefeller installed home telegraph to spend afternoons with family
“He had a telegraph wire run between his office and his house so he could spend three or four afternoons a week at home, Planting trees and playing with his kids, all the while he kept one of the largest companies on earth humming along down the road.”
Parrish: Rockefeller's father lived bigamously under alias in Illinois
“The children had no idea that their jolly grandfather was now living under a false name in Illinois with a second wife who knew nothing of their existence.”
Parrish: Standard Oil refined 90% of US oil by late 1874
“Fully nine of 10 barrels of oil refined in the United States was now passing through Standard Oil.”
Parrish: Rockefeller's Standard Oil stock was worth $18M in 1879
“When a newspaper that year guessed his fortune, it said five million dollars, and he didn't correct them. He never did. But we know now that a standard oil stock alone at the time was worth about eighteen million.”
Rockefeller wore rotating wigs of varying lengths to simulate natural hair growth
“And in time, he would keep a rotation of wigs, Cut to different lengths, which he wore in sequence over the weeks so that his hair seemed to grow longer and then be freshly trimmed.”
Gasoline outsold kerosene for the first time in 1910
“Just a year earlier, in 1910, gasoline, once near a worthless byproduct routinely dumped into rivers, had outsold kerosene for the very first time.”
Parrish: Rockefeller Jr. distributed over $1B after leaving Standard Oil in 1910
“In 1910, Junior made his decision and resigned from the board of Standard Oil and stepped away from the business side for good. His real life's work would be the other machine, the giving one. Over the next half century, he moved more than a billion dollars of…”
Parrish: Rockefeller collected $5M insurance payout upon reaching age 96
“When he turned 96, his insurance company, honoring an old policy, had to pay him five million dollars.”
Chung Ju-Yung Was the First South Korean Civilian to Cross the DMZ
“He was the first South Korean civilian to cross the border since the country was split in half.”
At Its Peak, Hyundai Constituted 16% of South Korea's Entire Economy
“While many people think of Hyundai as a car company, at its peak, it accounted for 16% of South Korea's entire economic output.”
Average Korean Heights Progressively Declined Between the 1920s and 1950s
“Historians later measured Korean heights from the 19 twenties to the 19 fifties. The average Korean kept Getting shorter, year after year, a little smaller than before.”
Hyundai's Founder Financed His Escape by Stealing His Father's Cow
“To finance it, Chung stole one of his father's cows, sold it for 70 won, and bought a train ticket to Seoul.”
Chung Drove 1,001 Cows Into North Korea to Repay His Father
“65 years later, when he drove a 1001 cows across the demilitarized zone, he was still trying to pay it off.”
Chung Ju-Yung Was the World's Ninth Richest Person in 1996
“By 1996, he was the ninth richest person.”
Hyundai Was Left 650,000 Won in Debt After the Goryeong Bridge Project
“The contract paid Hyundai 547,800 won, which had seemed like an astronomical sum when they signed it two years earlier. But the project had left them 650,000 won in debt. They'd spent more than twice what they earned.”
Hyundai Was the Only Korean Builder Directly Registered With the US Military
“Because of his wartime work with the Americans, they were the only Korean construction company registered as direct customer of the U.S. Eighth Army.”
Hyundai Built 13 Han River Bridges, Including Korea's First Suspension Bridge
“They would go on to build 13 bridges across the Han River alone, including Korea's first suspension bridge and its first cable-stayed bridge.”
Early Forecasts Ranked Burma and the Philippines Above South Korea for Industrialization
“When they ranked the Asian countries most likely to industrialize, Burma and the Philippines were near the top. Korea was near the bottom.”
Hyundai Required English Entrance Exams Years Before Other Korean Firms
“English tests were required at Hyundai years before the rest of Korea caught on.”
German Engineers Capped Hyundai Workers' Welding at 18 Meters Daily
“Hyundai workers were not permitted to weld more than 18 meters a day.”
Hyundai Was the First Korean Company to Build a Nuclear Plant
“Eventually, Hyundai became the first Korean company to build a nuclear power plant.”
Hyundai Won a $5.2M Thai Highway Contract Over 29 Global Competitors
“Hyundai submitted a bid of 5.2 million dollars and beat out 29 companies from 16 countries.”
Hyundai Completed the Soyang River Dam 30% Below Original Cost Estimates
“The dam broke ground in 1967 with Hyundai as the contractor. It was finished six years later at a cost 30% below the original estimates. It became the largest rock-filled dam in Asia.”
The Gyeongbu Expressway Cut Seoul-to-Busan Travel From 15 Hours to 4 Hours
“Before the highway, the train ride from Seoul to Busan took 15 hours. The expressway cut it to four. In his first year, 3.7 million vehicles used it.”
Hyundai Built Its Ulsan Ford Assembly Factory in a Record Six Months
“The initial assembly plant went from groundbreaking to full-scale operations in under six months, which set a record for any Ford assembly factory anywhere in the world.”
The Hyundai Excel Was America's Number One Imported Car in 1986
“In 1987, sales hit 264,000 units. The Excel was rated the number one imported car in America both years. No car company in history had ever achieved that kind of initial success in the American market.”
Hyundai Had 82% Hands-On Labor Versus 60% for Japanese Shipbuilders
“A typical Japanese shipbuilder at the time had 20% of its workers in engineering and technical support. Hyundai had 11. The Japanese had 14% in supervisory roles. Hyundai had seven. That meant 82% of Hyundai's people were doing actual hands-on work, compared t…”
Hyundai Built Ships in Half the European Time at 10% Lower Prices
“A ship order placed at Hyundai took half the time it would take in a European yard, and at a price a good 10% lower than the nearest price competition.”
Hyundai Finished the Jubail Harbor Project Ten Months Ahead of Schedule
“In February of 1979, the Jabail Harbor was officially opened. Hyundai had finished 10 months ahead of schedule.”
Hyundai Reached Over $10 Billion in Annual Sales by the Mid-1980s
“By the mid-nineteen-eighties, Hyundai was doing over ten billion dollars in annual sales and was the largest company in Korea.”
Seoul's Olympic Facilities Were 60% Complete During the 1981 Bidding Session
“Seoul's facilities were already 60% complete. Nagoya's plans were still on paper.”
South Korea Spent Close to $6 Billion on the 1988 Summer Olympics
“Korea then spent close to six billion dollars on the games themselves, and you could see the country's ambition in every line item.”
Chung Ju-Yung Marched His Sons 2.5 Miles to Work in Silence
“And then all of them would walk two and a half miles to Hyundai headquarters in downtown Seoul in silence. There was no conversation. There was no small talk. Just a formation of men moving through the city toward the company they all worked for. Chung did thi…”
Chung Ju-Yung's Eldest Son Died on a Highway His Father Built
“Chung's eldest son, Mong Pil, was killed in a car accident on the expressway, which was the very highway his father had built.”
Chung Ju-Yung Divided the Hyundai Empire Among His Six Surviving Sons
“In his final years, as his health started to decline, Chung divided Hyundai amongst his six surviving sons. Each one received at least one company.”
South Korea's Per Capita GDP Grew 140-Fold Over Chung Ju-Yung's Lifetime
“When he died in 2001, South Korea was the world's 11 largest economy. Per capita GDP was roughly 11,000 dollars. That is a hundred and forty-fold increase in a single human lifetime.”
Parrish: Ray Kroc and Walt Disney served in the same WWI Red Cross company
“When World War I began, Ray was 15. He lied about his age to join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver. In his company was another young man who had also lied about his age to get in. While everyone else chased girls on leave, this kid stayed in camp drawing p…”
Parrish: 80% of Original McDonald's Sales Came From Hamburgers Alone
“First, the teenage crowd was driving away families, and second, despite a menu of 25 items, 80% of sales came from one thing, the hamburger.”
Kroc's McDonald's contract required registered mail approval for specification changes
“He could not deviate from their specifications unless changes were approved in writing, signed by both brothers, and sent by registered mail.”
Harry Sonneborn turned $1,000 into $170 million in McDonald's real estate
“They started Franchise Realty Corporation with a thousand dollars in capital, and Harry would eventually turn it into over a hundred and seventy million dollars worth of real estate.”
Parrish: Early McDonald's stores technically violated the McDonald brothers' contract
“They refused to send registered letters authorizing changes, which meant Technically, every store he built was in violation of their original contract. Their attorney could shut them down at any moment.”
McDonald's buyout was financed by 12 institutions including Princeton and Ford Foundation
“He finally found a group of 12 institutions, including Princeton, Howard University, Carnegie Tech, the Ford Foundation, willing to lend the money in exchange for a Half a percent of gross sales.”