Saturday, October 20, 2007

John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller is the wealthiest man the world has ever known. On inflation-adjusted terms, Rockefeller's early-20th-century fortune is estimated by Forbes to be more than $300 billion today -- roughly five times the wealth of today's richest man, Carlos Slim.

Rockefeller quickly learned that the fastest and easiest way to make money was to sell "real" products that every household needed. When he discovered that crude oil could be refined into kerosene, a high-quality illuminating oil for lamps (automobiles and their need for gasoline would come later), Rockefeller saw the opportunity to help every U.S. family light up its house and jumped into the oil business in 1863.

No comments: