Here's how much money the Rockefellers are worth right now.
We're all familiar with the name.It is impressive that there is a square named after the family, since most of us won't be mentioned in the same sentence after we're gone.Mentioning the entrepreneurial dynasty conjures vague images of Monopoly men ordering new gilding for their bathroom or complaining that the caviar pulled from the egg sacks of their cloned dinosaur fish is too soft for dental implants.
We're all familiar with the name.It is impressive that there is a square named after the family, since most of us won't be mentioned in the same sentence after we're gone.Mentioning the entrepreneurial dynasty conjures vague images of Monopoly men ordering new gilding for their bathroom or complaining that the caviar pulled from the egg sacks of their cloned dinosaur fish is too soft for dental implants.
The facts are that in the last half of the 19th century, a new legend of commerce pushed himself into the public consciousness: John D. Rockefeller.The drink-your-milkshake way of refining oil was built by John.Standard Oil Company became a kaiju monster of capitalism so big that you probably don't realize how much of your life you've spent in its wake.Standard Oil became several small mom-and-pop operations after a government ordered the break up of its holdings.Johnny held a personal net worth which, adjusted for inflation, comes out to around $360 billion in today-money, or roughly, a Scrooge McDuck gold pool-worth.He was described as the "most successful man in the world", the man who has the most of what men want.Ida M. Tarbell started her article with a passage from Macchiavelli's The Prince.But we don't.John Rockefeller passed away in 1937, leaving behind four surviving children, a legacy of American go-gettishness, and a series of trusts under the control of his male descendants.The better part of a century later, how is that going for them?
The facts are that in the last half of the 19th century, a new legend of commerce pushed himself into the public consciousness: John D. Rockefeller.The drink-your-milkshake way of refining oil was built by John.Standard Oil Company became a kaiju monster of capitalism so big that you probably don't realize how much of your life you've spent in its wake.Standard Oil became several small mom-and-pop operations after a government ordered the break up of its holdings.
Johnny held a personal net worth which, adjusted for inflation, comes out to around $360 billion in today-money, or roughly, a Scrooge McDuck gold pool-worth.He was described as the "most successful man in the world", the man who has the most of what men want.Ida M. Tarbell started her article with a passage from Macchiavelli's The Prince.But we don't.
John Rockefeller passed away in 1937, leaving behind four surviving children, a legacy of American go-gettishness, and a series of trusts under the control of his male descendants.The better part of a century later, how is that going for them?
Rockefeller had been retired for forty years by the time he died.The habit of donating a significant portion of his paycheck to charity seemed to die hard as he became more interested in philanthropy.Through his various contributions, John gave away more than half a billion dollars in his lifetime, helping to found Chicago University and fund schools dedicated to the education of former slaves.His penchant for owning massive estates, his love of golf, and his habit of handing dimes to successful businessmen as a joke made you think that the family coffers were looking a little dry when he finally crossed that oily rainbow bridge.
Rockefeller had been retired for forty years by the time he died.The habit of donating a significant portion of his paycheck to charity seemed to die hard as he became more interested in philanthropy.Through his various contributions, John gave away more than half a billion dollars in his lifetime, helping to found Chicago University and fund schools dedicated to the education of former slaves.His penchant for owning massive estates, his love of golf, and his habit of handing dimes to successful businessmen as a joke made you think that the family coffers were looking a little dry when he finally crossed that oily rainbow bridge.