Tanner, Sahuri Ms. Kigyos English 1 Honors 8/3/24 Rise of Rockefeller John D. Rockefeller, often hailed as the father of the oil industry and the world's first billionaire, is a figure whose legacy evokes both admiration and controversy. Employing a ruthless mentality, which was used to dominate the oil market through monopolistic deals. Now, this mentality was mainly built up when he was a child, taking on many responsibilities and loads of hard work. Rockefeller's merciless business mentality gave him quite a negative perception. John D Rockefeller took the oil market by surprise with his savage business tactics and a hard working mindset, which he learned from an early age; his mentality made him a widely disputed figure in US history. John D. Rockefeller is widely known as the father of the oil industry and the world's first billionaire. …show more content…
Next, John used monopolistic business deals, such as the Erie railroad deal (the Erie railroad was a major NE railroad system); which granted him a “75% discount on the railroad’s official shipping cost,” giving him the shipping advantage over the competition (Frazer). Rockefeller used this advantage to lower prices, forcing the competition to do the same, which slowly destroyed other companies. Furthermore, Rockefeller used his power to change the prices of oil to fit his income margin, thus dominating the industry further with his massive size. Rockefeller used his company's complete dominance of the oil market to represent when standard oil “grew to control around ninety percent of the refined oil in the United States” and gained massive price control over the market (Sabin). Flexibility like this forced others to lower their prices, which made Rockefeller the most profitable business. In conclusion, John D. Rockefeller took advantage of companies with monopolistic deals to grow their business, which in the end, gave him dominance over the oil