He went from a penniless teenager to an oil tycoon, becoming the first billionaire in America.

Bill Gates once said, "There is only one hero to make money in my mind, and that is Rockefeller". It was David Rockefeller's grandfather, John Rockefeller, whom he mentioned.

like father, like son

as the saying goes, "like father, like son". Rockefeller showed a shrewd business mind very early. At the age of 12, Rockefeller began to issue "usury", lending his accumulated $5 to his neighbors and charging interest, which won his father's praise in Qian Shengqian. Because his father William thinks: "Life depends only on yourself, and it's time to do business. Only money is the most reliable." Father's thought that "making money is king" inspired Rockefeller's yearning for business ambitions.

in 1855, at the age of 16, Rockefeller decided to leave school and make a living in business. He first went to the business school in Cleveland, Ohio, and learned nearly four tyrants "-constantly interviewing but being rejected again and again. Rockefeller, who suffered repeated defeats and wars, persisted for six weeks in a row, and some companies even went there two or three times. Everything comes to him who waits, Rockefeller finally became an accounting clerk in a grain business with a monthly salary of $12.

In addition to keeping good accounts, Rockefeller sometimes gives ideas on company management. On one occasion, the firm bought a batch of marble at a high price, but after opening the package, it was found that there were flaws in Dali stone. Just as the owner of the firm was at a loss, Rockefeller suggested that the responsibility should be shifted to the three transportation companies responsible for freight delivery and let them compensate for the losses. This move saved the company more than 1 dollars in losses, and also made the boss look at it with new eyes. In the second year of work, Rockefeller's annual salary was raised to 5 dollars.

At the age of 2, he started a company with a net income of $4,.

In the third year of his work, Rockefeller simply fired his boss and went it alone after he proposed to raise his annual salary to $8. In March, 1859, Rockefeller borrowed $1, from his father at 1% interest, plus $8 from his savings, and established Clark-Rockefeller Company in partnership with British friend Moliis Clark. The company mainly deals in agricultural products such as grain, pasture and meat. Rockefeller, who was only 2 years old, became a partner in a trade agency.

at the beginning, they were unlucky. Crops in the midwest of the United States have hardly been harvested due to severe frost and snow. Farmers had to use the grain harvest in 28 as collateral, but asked the company to pay a down payment. Affected by this, many similar companies have closed down. Clark, the partner, suggested closing the door, but Rockefeller thought that it was just the right time for everyone to quit the market.

With a loan of $2, from the bank, Rockefeller quickly sold the collected grain and meat to Europe to earn the price difference. Due to the smooth operation, the company made a net profit of $4, in the first year.

Zhao Pu escaped from military service and made great fortune

In April 1861, the American Civil War broke out, which lasted for four years, and President Lincoln issued a draft order. Rockefeller should join the army according to his age, but he only thinks about how to make war money.

In order to avoid military service, Rockefeller first pretended to have a foot disease, but it was too much to pretend. He simply paid body double to serve as cannon fodder. Before the war broke out, Rockefeller made all the loans he could, invested all the money and hoarded a lot of living materials and strategic materials. With the expansion of the war, the price of living materials soared, and orders flew to him like snowflakes. In just four years, it is estimated that Rockefeller earned more than $1,.

Later, a biographer said that Rockefeller was actually very concerned about the Civil War. His office is like the army general staff. Rockefeller spent 25 dollars to buy a map of the United States and put it on the wall. Some people think that Rockefeller's location marked on the map is actually his business outlet: the yellow label represents grain and the red label represents ham. The so-called battle map is actually a commercial attack map.

at the age of 26, the ownership of the company went it alone

On the eve of the outbreak of the Civil War, the oil discovered in Pennsylvania, USA, attracted thousands of adventurers to flood in. For a time, there were many derricks in the oil-producing area of Pennsylvania. Between 1861 and 1862, the number of oil wells in Pennsylvania almost doubled. Facing the busy mining site, Rockefeller chose to wait. His judgment is: the application of oil has not been popularized, and the demand for crude oil is limited, so blind production will inevitably lead to a decline in oil prices. As expected, due to the crazy drilling, the crude oil per barrel plummeted from the original $2 to only 1 cents, and many oil drilling owners lost their money.

when crude oil plummeted again and again, Rockefeller made a decisive move. Unlike many people who only focus on crude oil, Rockefeller decided to start with refining. He found that after refined into kerosene, crude oil can be sold for about 3 cents per gallon, and its profit far exceeds that of crude oil exploitation. In 1863, with the joining of British chemist Andrews, Rockefeller and Clark set up an oil refinery. Andrews successfully extracted kerosene from crude oil, and then the United States vigorously developed the coal refining industry to replace whale oil as a lighting agent. In less than a year, refining business has become the most profitable business of the company.

Manipulating banks and suppressing small companies turned brothers against each other

With the prosperity of the oil industry, companies expanded rapidly. On January 1, 187, Rockefeller co-founded the Standard Oil Company. Soon, Standard Oil Company set a benchmark for the industry because of the excellent quality of kerosene, and controlled 1/1 of the market of American refining industry. In July 187, the Franco-Prussian War broke out on the European continent. The spread of the war caused the American oil export market to shrink, and the price of crude oil dropped from $4 to $3.25 per barrel. Oil producers in Pennsylvania and other places spontaneously organized themselves to stop oil production for three months, and many refineries complained bitterly.

Rockefeller used the company's stock to buy off the presidents of major banks in Cleveland, so that they could not provide loans to local small and medium-sized refineries. Small refineries are short of crude oil and cash, and they either close down or are eaten by Standard Oil Company. Two years later, Standard Oil took control of 21 of Cleveland's 26 refineries. Rockefeller's own brother Franklin's refinery also went bankrupt, and the brothers turned against each other from then on.

establishing an independent IR market by trust

Rockefeller has made great efforts to expand. In 1884, Rockefeller moved the company's headquarters to 26 Broadway, the financial center of new york. With the rise of the oil empire, the danger that it is difficult to control because of its huge size is growing. Rockefeller clearly saw this drawback.

Just then, Rockefeller found an article in a public publication, which wrote: "The era of small businessmen is over, and the era of big enterprises is coming." He felt that this coincided with his monopoly thought, so he hired Dodd, the author of the article, as legal adviser at a high price. It was Dodd who put forward the concept of "trust", a monopoly organization.

the so-called "trust" means that a number of enterprises producing similar products are no longer fragmented, but form a comprehensive enterprise group in the form of a high degree of alliance. Rockefeller founded an unprecedented joint venture-trust. Under this trust structure, Rockefeller merged 41 enterprises, and he successfully opened the "monopoly era" of the American economy. At its peak, Standard Oil Company monopolized 95% of refining capacity, 9% of oil transportation capacity and 25% of crude oil production in the United States. In the history of the United States, no enterprise has ever monopolized the market so thoroughly.

After establishing a university to carry out charity

success, Rockefeller chose to retire. After retirement, his focus shifted to charity. He invested $6, to establish the University of Chicago and donated $34 million to the University of Chicago in the following 1 years. This is his first large charitable donation.

Rockefeller also used "trust tactics" for charity. The research institute, education committee and foundation named Rockefeller have been established successively, and his total donation exceeds 5 million dollars. In this regard, some people expressed respect and gratitude, and some priests condemned Rockefeller's earning as "dirty money", thus rejecting a donation of $1,.

On May 23rd, 1937, Rockefeller died at the age of 98. It is estimated that Rockefeller's personal wealth is not less than $1.4 billion, and he became the first billionaire in American history. The GDP of the United States in that year was $92 billion. In terms of the proportion of personal wealth in GDP, no one in the United States has surpassed Rockefeller so far.