Advertising Notice He was born in 1839 and died in 1937. By 1880, Standard controlled 90% of the oil produced in the United States. and/or its affiliates. Although those men are exceedingly wealthy, they are far from the top 10. Unquestionably, the richest person during the Renaissance was Jakob Fugger. "She devoted significant thought to Rockefeller's stark physical appearance, wondering if it might somehow be viewed as a punishment for his misdeeds," Parr explained. or Kat Eschner is a freelance science and culture journalist based in Toronto. The man who headed that powerful concern was pretty weird, as genius often is. Charles & David Koch, USA Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, and his brother executive vice president David Koch, of Koch Industries have an estimated net worth of $40.6bn each, making them the richest Oil & Gas billionaires and the world’s sixth richest overall. Although he had hoped to go to college, he could not attend one because his father needed financial assistance i… Terms of Use As a young man, he took a job as an assistant bookkeeper, saved his dough, and then partnered with others in buying a couple of oil refineries in Cleveland. But there was another side to him. Adjusting for inflation, he is often regarded as the richest person in history. Rockefeller might have been the richest man in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but there was another age that had extremely rich people: the Renaissance. Rockefeller pioneered the monopoly, Parr writes, aggressively buying smaller companies to grow his own—”a move that pioneered modern American capitalism.” His secret deals with the railroads enabled him to ship cheaply, Parr writes. Nelson A. Rockefeller was the grandson of one of the richest men in the world: oil magnate John A. Rockefeller. For the latest business news and markets data, please visit CNN Aliko DangoteAccording to the 2019 Forbes 2019 ranking of the world’s billionaires, Nigerian business magnate Aliko Dangote had a net worth of $10.9 billion and was the world’s richest black person. His dad was a salesman who was rarely at home as young John grew up. All rights reserved. Rockefeller was left to forge his own path. When he became vice-president to Gerald Ford in … Privacy Statement Capitalizing on the growth of the railroad industry and making use of his connections, Carnegie quickly amassed a fortune by investing in steel and oil production, gaining a near monopoly in the former, and thus, becoming the second richest man in modern history. John D. Rockefeller was a business magnate and philanthropist. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller’s wealth soared and he became the world’s richest man and the first American worth more than a billion dollars. His name was John Davison Rockefeller Sr., who is considered as the richest man in history. Ambani is the current chairperson of Reliance Industries, the company his father founded - so in many ways he has the advantage of inherited wealth that none of this Russian associates had. All Rights Reserved.Terms under which this service is provided to you. Before his time, lamp oil was unpredictable. That young man was John Davison Rockefeller in 1855, who in 25 years would become the wealthiest man of his time, and arguably the wealthiest in history, reigning over a … Before his time, lamp oil was unpredictable. A New Database Humanizes the Names Behind the Numbers, Inside the Monumental Effort to Restore Notre-Dame's Grand Organ, The Inspiring Quest to Revive the Hawaiian Language, The New Science of Our Ancient Bond With Dogs, Why Seagrass Could Be the Ocean's Secret Weapon Against Climate Change. Oil & Gas 360® c/o EnerCom, Inc. 410 17th Street Suite 250 Denver, CO 80202 [email protected] 303-296-8834 E-mail for Advertising Information or call 303-296-8834 x 243 His business was described as an octopus, a grasping monster: In fact, Ida Tarbell's father and a business partner had been among Rockefeller's competition, until Rockefeller brutally took them over, writes Gilbert King for Smithsonian.com. With a peak net worth of approximately US$418 billion in 2019 dollars, American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (left) is the richest person in American history… numerous men and women have followed in the steps of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller and built massive empires of wealth thanks to the metaphorical goldmine of the oil and gas sector Later in life, he writes, Rockefeller said, “I often tremble when I ask myself the question: ‘What if I had not got the job?’”. Estimated Net Worth: $1.4 trillion. In 1911, the Supreme Court of the United States deemed Standard Oil an illegal monopoly and made the company split into 34 independent companies. Smithsonian Institution, People hated Rockefeller’s guts, but they also acknowledged that he was good at what he did. “Until he died, Rockefeller celebrated ‘job day’ every September 26 to commemorate his entry into the business world,” Parr writes. The Peculiar Story of the Witch of Wall Street, The Tin Man Is a Reminder of L. 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Muammar Gaddafi's iron fisted rule over Libya's oil fields made up the rest of his net worth. He spent the last part of his life giving away much of his fortune, including money to found the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller Foundation. Trivia-Library. "Not knowing him, the writer's immediate thought was 'This is the oldest man in the world—a living mummy,'" she wrote. Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. His wealth was so enormous that he single-handedly caused a crash in gold prices due to his profligate spending. Cable News Network. The richest person ever to live came from Mali (yes that Mali). The companies that sprung from Standard Oil's breakup -- including ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP) and a big chunk of what are now BP's (BP) U.S. operations -- remain among the world's largest. “Competition is a sin,” Rockefeller once said, and he had certainly done his part to stamp that sin out. Rockefeller spent the … Most sources agree on John D. Rockefeller being the richest American in history, although some define richest as an individual's wealth as a share of contemporary Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Privacy Policy. By the early 1900s, Standard Oil controlled more than 90 percent of the market. The 20 Richest People Of All Time Cookie Policy Do Not Sell, Source: *Most nominal wealth estimates are from The Wealthy 100 by Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther, and include wealth at time of death, including bequests. But he figured out a way to standardize the quality, and Standard Oil was born. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. Rockefeller's influence on the oil business even is visible today. Disclaimer. Mansa Musa, the king of Timbuktu, is often referred to as the wealthiest person in history. His father was a salesman who traveled widely. All rights reserved. This method of comparing individuals' wealth across time is disputed. "In 1949, the businessman paid almost $10 million in cash to Ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia, for drilling rights to a plot of land where oil had never been found..." This success in the Middle East – buoyed by Getty’s willingness to learn the native tongue – is what made him the richest man in the world. On this day in 1870, Rockefeller incorporated the company that would make him almost inconceivably rich and, in many ways, begin the modern age of oil. In 1903, while working on her expose, she watched him in church. This 14th-Century African Emperor Remains the Richest Person in History Forget today’s tech billionaires, the wealth of Mansa Musa of Mali was too vast to be imagined—or equaled. The below table shows the fortunes of the world’s 10 richest people, comparing the numbers from March 5, 2019 to the most recent data from April 22, 2020. None of the above. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 ^ "Often named as the richest man ever, a more accurate conversion of sesterce would put his modern figure between $200 million and $20 billion." Mansa Musa travelled to Mecca with a caravan of 60,000 men and 12,000 slaves Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world, according to … Source: Forbes – *As of April 22, 2020 **As of March 5, 2019 Gaining the highest across the top 10 is former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who saw his fortune rise over $21 billionsince March 2019. Peter L. Bernstein. Rockefeller had five siblings with him being the oldest son. He personally owned a fifth of the wealth of an empire that accounted for about 30% of the gross domestic product of the whole world. The People's Almanac. Rockefeller's shrewd business sense led to the rise of one of the biggest companies in the world. "It is pitiful, so pitiful, that one cannot watch John Rockefeller sit through a church service and never cease to feel that he is one of the saddest objects in the world," she wrote. 10 Cornelius Vanderbilt The family Is estimated to worth over $1.4 trillion U.S dollars, which literally means, the riches of the top ten richest men in the world combined is not up to 3% of the total net worth of the Saud house family. Widely regarded as the richest American who ever lived, John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil company in 1870 and ended up controlling around 90% of the US oil business. Morningstar: © 2018 It is a club for men who have built legendary amounts of wealth and monumental legacies. “Although Standard Oil was eventually forced to break into multiple companies because it was ruled a monopoly, BP, Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Chevron (among others) are all subsidiaries of Standard Oil,” writes Sam Parr for The Hustle. After the takeover, the partner committed suicide and he was ruined, leaving a deep impression on a young Ida Tarbell. It is in this town that Rockefeller went to high school with his strengths being debate, math, and music. Jeff Bezos declared the richest man with his net worth touching $200 billion, but a relative output comparison throws up many more billionaires from the annals of history who made as much or … Facing the steepest losses belong to investing luminary Warren Buffett, whose ne… 1975–1981. Richest Man in History. “Rockefeller’s fortune peaked in 1912 at almost $900,000,000, but his estate totaled only $26,410,837 when he died,” Parr writes, “making him the biggest philanthropist ever to live.”, In a 1937 obituary, he is described as the “founder of one of the world’s most colossal private fortunes and benefactor of humanity.” He was 98 when he died, and according to his obituary, had “a peaceful, painless death.”. Give a Gift. Even Ida Tarbell, the pioneering muckraker, had to tip her hat in the otherwise-brutal history of Standard Oil that she published in 1904: “There is nothing which concerned the oil business which John Rockefeller was not on the inside of,” she, Rockefeller's influence on the oil business even is visible today. #7 William The Conqueror – $229.5 Billion. The birth of John Rockefeller took place in Richford, New York on July 8th, 1839. Carnegie worked in a Pittsburgh cotton factory as a boy before rising to the position of division superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859. As this was during the 13 century, when gold was the measure of wealth, it’s Musa who holds the title of richest man in history. Who was the richest person in history? Mansa Musa I of MaliMansa Musa I of Mali was the wealthiest person in medieval history, and perhaps of all time. Well, John D. Rockefeller is the richest American in history. By this point in his life, Rockefeller was suffering from alopecia and was entirely hairless, including eyebrows. Mukesh Ambani chairs and runs $88 billion (revenue) Reliance Industries, which has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom and retail. Author: According to Ferrum College history professor Richard Smith, Musa’s west African kingdom was likely the largest producer of gold in the world—at a time which gold was in … His parents were Eliza and William. #2 John F. Kennedy Peak net worth: $1.1 billion 35th president (1961-1963) John F. Kennedy was born into money and all of his wealth was inherited. African emperor, Mansa Musa, ruled over an empire holding half of the world’s known gold reserves. Business. This, obviously, made Rockefeller the richest man in the world with a wealth that would translate into around $350 billion today. Here is a list of the top 10 wealthiest men in human history! Augustus Caesar, one of the richest people of all time in history, had an economy that was one of the largest in his times, with it accounting for about 25% to 30% of the world’s economic output. Estimated wealth adjusted for inflation: $400 billion (or 4x Jeff Bezos). Even Ida Tarbell, the pioneering muckraker, had to tip her hat in the otherwise-brutal history of Standard Oil that she published in 1904: “There is nothing which concerned the oil business which John Rockefeller was not on the inside of,” she wrote. In her exposé, which helped break up Standard Oil's monopoly, Tarbell held nothing back. The story of John D. Rockefeller is maybe one of the strangest of the American Gilded Age. The government broke it up in 1911 amid allegations of price fixing and other underhanded business dealings, but not before Rockefeller became the country's first billionaire. The penultimate oil tycoon on our list need not feel bad about missing out on the top spot as Mukesh Ambani also ranks as India’s richest man. Vote Now! California Do Not Sell My Info Most stock quote data provided by BATS. "Richest People in History Ancient Roman Crassus". Keep up-to-date on: © 2020 Smithsonian Magazine. "I believe it is every man's religious duty to get all he can honestly and to give all he can," he is often quoted as saying. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All times are ET. The World Richest Families. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. John Davison Rockefeller Sr.: The richest man in history On this day, July 8 in the year 1839, the founder of Standard Oil Company was born in New York, USA. While working for the railroad, he invested in various ventures, including iron and oil companies, and made his first fortune by the time he wa… “Although Standard Oil was eventually forced to break into multiple companies because it was ruled a monopoly, BP, Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Chevron (among others) are all subsidiaries of Standard Oil,”, In fact, Ida Tarbell's father and a business partner had been among Rockefeller's competition, until Rockefeller. Rockefeller made his fortune by revolutionizing the oil industry. His personal net worth was rumoured to have been 1/5th of the nation’s coffers, which would amount to $4.6 trillion U.S Dollars as at 2014. Augustus Caesar — Potentially the richest man of all time, he was the first emperor of the Roman Empire and valued at a rough estimate of $4.6 trillion in today’s dollars. Scottish-born Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was an American industrialist who amassed a fortune in the steel industry then became a major philanthropist. But his critics—of which there were many—probably would have said that he was stretching the definition of honest. SmartNews Keeping you current John D. Rockefeller Was the Richest Person To Ever Live. Continue William The Conqueror lived from 1028-1087 and was most famous for invading and subsequently seizing England in 1066. The richest of the rich belong in a separate club than the rest. A WarnerMedia Company. People hated Rockefeller’s guts, but they also acknowledged that he was good at what he did. Weborn 23 December 2009. John D. Rockefeller needed neither a trust fund nor the example of a successful father to become the richest man in American history. 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