The petroleum refining and marketing company founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1870, which by 1900 controlled roughly 90 percent of American oil production; the U.S. Supreme Court ordered it broken into 39 independent companies in 1911 for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Company TypePetroleum refining and marketing trust (historical, dissolved by antitrust order in 1911) 1 Founded Year HeadquartersCleveland, Ohio, U.S. (1870 to 1885); New York City, New York, U.S. (1885 to 1911) 1 Connections
Associated With
Both Exxon and Mobil descend from the 1911 breakup of Standard Oil, following Standard Oil's New Jersey subsidiary (Exxon) and the merger of Vacuum Oil with Socony (Mobil).
Source Wikipedia, ExxonMobil
Standard Oil's early consolidation of competing refineries through acquisition is a textbook case of horizontal integration, distinct from its later vertical move into pipelines and distribution (already cited to this atlas's Vertical Integration entity).
Source Wikipedia, Standard Oil
The company this 1911 ruling dissolved into 39 successors.
Source Wikipedia, Standard Oil
Standard Oil is the article's own historical example of the strategy: by 1890 it controlled 88 percent of refined oil flows in the United States.
Source Wikipedia, Vertical Integration
Founded By
Founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1870.
Source Wikipedia, Standard Oil
Led By
Rockefeller led Standard Oil through its rise to near-monopoly.
Source Wikipedia, Standard Oil
Operates In
Petroleum refining and marketing.
Source Wikipedia, Standard Oil
Related Corporate Events
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In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Standard Oil
Wikipedialead section, paragraph 2
Jersey Standard operated a near monopoly in the American oil industry from 1899 until 1911 and was the largest corporation in the United States.
Associated With: Horizontal Integration, Founding and early years section
The company grew by increasing sales and through acquisitions. After purchasing competing firms, Rockefeller shut down those he believed to be inefficient and kept the others.
Operates In: Petroleum Industry, Lead section
Standard Oil Company was a corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911.
Founded By: John D. Rockefeller, Lead section
The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founded in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller.
Led By: John D. Rockefeller, History section
In the early years, John D. Rockefeller dominated the combine; he was the single most important figure in shaping the oil industry.
Associated With: Standard Oil Antitrust Breakup, History section
On May 15, 1911, the US Supreme Court upheld the lower court judgment and declared the Standard Oil group to be an 'unreasonable' monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act, Section II.
- Related Corporate Events: Standard Oil Antitrust Breakup
View the Source Wikipedia, Vertical Integration
WikipediaAssociated With: Vertical Integration, Standard Oil sectionQuote, Associated With: Vertical Integration, Standard Oil section
In 1890, Standard Oil controlled 88 percent of the refined oil flows in the United States.
Wikipedia, ExxonMobil
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was Standard Oil broken up?
By 1900 Standard Oil, founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1870, controlled roughly 90 percent of American oil production, and at one point it controlled about 88 percent of the refined oil flows in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 15, 1911 that this dominance made Standard Oil an unreasonable monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act, and ordered it broken into 39 independent companies, several of which grew into companies still operating today such as ExxonMobil.
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