On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life of the wealthiest man in the history of the United States, creator of the modern monopoly, and ultimate oil tycoon, John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller vowed as a young man to make $100,000 and to live to be 100 years old before he died. Considering he was worth an estimated $1.4 Billion (the equivalent of roughly $350 Billion in today’s dollars!) and lived to be 97, I’d say he did a decent job.

John D. Rockefeller was the son of a snake oil salesman and con man who claimed he would rip off his children every chance he got in order to make them more smart. Well, this paid off, since John grew up to me an amazing business man, even as a child (when he would give small business loans to neighbors who lived near his family). At only twenty years old, started a small company that within a year was making $450,000 in back-in-they-day dollars.

Once the US government started to subsidize oil as a commodity, Rockefeller saw that was his chance and took action. He started an oil company in Cleveland during the Civil War and within record time was able to define the oil industry from the ground up.

He started Standard Oil, and at the height of his power, he controlled 80% of the world’s oil generation and 90% of the American market. Eventually, the US Congress stepped in and labeled him as a monopoly. Before they could, however Rockefeller broke his company up into 34 smaller ones (little companies like Chevron, Exxon, Mobile, BP…).

They say he was the richest man to ever live. They say he was the most generous philanthropist to ever live. He created the idea of a monopoly, the idea of controlling every aspect of your chain of production, and he even created the modern-day American university and medicine. Love him or hate him, he was one of the most influential people in all of human history (and probably a lizard person who helps run the Illuminati, of course…).