I recently watched the documentary "The Legend of American Business Tycoons", which tells the story that after the American Civil War, the United States embarked on the fast track of rapid development. During this period, business tycoons who built their own wealth empires appeared one after another. Is:
Vanderbilt was originally engaged in sail barge transportation. In order to purchase the first sail barge, Vanderbilt borrowed $100 from his mother to purchase the sail barge, which was available in 1810. Not a small amount. His mother made a harsh deal with him. She told him that if he could clear the 3.2 hectares of uncultivated land before his birthday, plow it and plant crops, she would give him money. His birthday was only four weeks away, but Vanderbilt organized some neighborhood kids to complete the task in time. At this time, Vanderbilt began to show the nature of an ambitious man - able to put in real efforts and leadership skills for his goals. (A person's power is limited after all, and strong people often use the power of others to serve themselves and leverage their strength)
Vanderbilt recalled in his later years: "When I was On that bright morning in May 60 years ago, when I first stepped onto my sail barge, hoisted the sail, and put my hand on the tiller, I felt a real sense of satisfaction that was even greater than my own. Even more so when he later earned $2 million at the Port of Harlem." Vanderbilt began his career ferrying passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan, and he soon became recognized as the port's most reliable. The captain. At the end of the first shipping season, he not only repaid his mother $100, but also gave her an extra $1,000. (A strong desire for a sense of achievement is a powerful motivator for struggle)
Vanderbilt works longer hours than his peers and has a stronger sense of competition. In 1812, when the Second War of Independence broke out in the United States, Vanderbilt reached cooperation with the U.S. Army and was responsible for delivering supplies to the fortress defending New York Harbor. By 1817, at the age of 23, Vanderbilt already owned a sailboat worth more than $7,000 and accumulated $9,000 in cash, making him one of the richest men of his age.
Although Vanderbilt's sail barge shipping business was very successful, he was always paying attention to any changes and opportunities that emerged. He soon saw his future in ships. So he sold the fleet and went to work for others. The reason was that he wanted to join someone else's company to learn the steamship business. In 1818, Vanderbilt joined the Gibbons Shipping Company, working for Thomas Gibbons as the captain of a steamship called the "Stoutinger", and devoted himself to learning steamship technology.
Vanderbilt worked for Gibbons until 1828, when he founded his own steamship shipping company. At this time, U.S. laws were very loose on market controls. Vanderbilt launched price wars many times. For the same waterway, the other company charged four yuan a ticket, but he only charged one yuan. In the end, he took away all the other company's business. Clean. In this way, Vanderbilt continues to suppress its opponents and occupy the market. More than ten years later, his company developed into a fleet of one hundred steamships. In 1840, Vanderbilt had become the largest shipping king in the United States. The American "Business Daily" called him Captain, which became the origin of his nickname "Captain".
In 1849, a major event occurred that shocked the world. This year, gold was discovered in California, and the Western Gold Rush began throughout the United States. His company immediately launched routes from the East Coast to California. This new route brought Vanderbilt an annual income of one million U.S. dollars, which was an astronomical figure at the time.
The California Gold Rush not only spurred the development of shipping but also the railroad industry.
Vanderbilt saw that railroads would replace shipping as the core of American transportation. In 1864, at the age of 70, Vanderbilt made another important decision in his life: to give up his navigation career and transition to the railroad industry. His focus in the railway industry was not to repair railways, but to purchase already repaired railways and improve their operation and management. He first bought several railroads near New York City and gradually established a railroad empire on the East Coast.
Vanderbilt continued to expand his railroad empire from the east to the west step by step, eventually controlling the railroads in the area near Chicago. About 50 years later, he became the biggest giant in the U.S. railroad industry.
Due to the "bubble" and speculation in the railway industry, too many railways were built in the United States. In order to compete for customers, various railway companies launched fierce price reduction competition for goods. At this time, a young man came Find
Vanderbilt hoped that the freight for transporting kerosene to himself would be lower. Vanderbilt asked the young man why he should give him a lower freight. The young man replied that it was because of his Kerosene could fill all the cars on a Vanderbilt train. After negotiations, Vanderbilt agreed to the collaboration.
But in fact, the young man’s kerosene production at that time could not fill all the carriages in Vanderbilt, but he knew that he must not miss such a good opportunity, so he immediately used it after returning He used all his strength to cooperate with many parties to expand kerosene production and fulfilled his original promise with Vanderbilt. This young man became the famous Rockefeller.
In 1859, the world's first oil well was dug in Pennsylvania. Countless people rushed into the northwest. Thousands of oil wells were dug out indiscriminately, including neighboring Cleveland. Seeing this situation, Rockefeller judged that "the price of crude oil will definitely fall sharply, and the real money will be made in oil refining, not drilling." History has proved his idea. Within a few years, crude oil prices plummeted, and the refining rate was far slower than the drilling rate. Many oil drillers had to sell crude oil at low prices to avoid bankruptcy.
Rockefeller, who chose to refine oil rather than drill for oil, seized the opportunity, and he keenly discovered that most of the kerosene on the market (the main product of petroleum at that time was kerosene, and kerosene mainly provided fuel for kerosene lamps) used for lighting) are not of very good quality and are very unsafe, because most kerosene manufacturers are desperately trying to produce more kerosene, and no one cares about the quality. Rockefeller knew that consumers care more about the quality of kerosene and prefer to use it safely. kerosene lamp. Therefore, he set strict quality standards for the kerosene he produced, and named his company Standard Oil Company. It can be seen that Rockefeller hoped that his company could set the standards for the entire oil industry. Later, facts proved that he completely achieved this .
With its excellent quality, Rockefeller's kerosene was widely loved by the public. Rockefeller also obtained low freight rates by continuously merging other oil companies and taking advantage of the fierce competition among major railway companies. His kerosene circulated freely throughout the United States, and at night almost the entire United States was lit by Rockefeller's kerosene lamps.
Rockefeller used Dodd's "trust" theory to convene the Standard Oil Company's shareholders' meeting on January 20, 1882, and formed a nine-member "Trust Committee" to take charge of all Standard Oil Company stocks and subsidiaries. The company's stock. Rockefeller was elected chairman of the committee. Subsequently, the Trustee Committee issued 700,000 trust certificates, and Rockefeller and other four people alone owned more than 460,000 certificates, accounting for 2/3 of the total.
In this way, Rockefeller got his wish and created an unprecedented joint enterprise-trust. Under this trust structure, Rockefeller merged more than 40 manufacturers and monopolized 80% of the country's oil refining industry and 90% of the oil pipeline business.
The rapidly developing railway industry has connected most areas of the United States, and the traversing transportation has promoted the rapid development of all walks of life; the large-scale exploitation of oil has enabled the United States to obtain a large amount of kerosene. The widespread use of kerosene lamps also became possible. Since then, lamps have lit up the entire United States, and people's lifestyles have also undergone tremendous changes.
As the saying goes, a gentleman is born without any differences, and he is good at things. Whether Vanderbilt recruited a large group of children to help him clear land and grow crops when he was a child, or Rockefeller took advantage of the fierce competition among railroad companies to obtain low freight rates.
These people who do big things are very good at using various resources to serve themselves, because they know that a person's power is limited. If they want to make a lot of money and do big things, they must mobilize other people to work for themselves and for themselves. Create wealth.
As more and more companies were dissatisfied with Rockefeller's keeping freight rates so low, the major railroad companies united and threatened Rockefeller to accept higher freight rates, otherwise they would refuse to transport kerosene for Rockefeller's company. .
This posed a big problem for Rockefeller. If he did not compromise, kerosene would not be transported to various parts of the United States by convenient and fast trains, and the company would inevitably go bankrupt. If he accepted this threat, he would be in office in the future. People were slaughtered. Rockefeller was never one to give in easily. He thought hard and finally came up with a counterattack strategy. He built an oil pipeline to transport kerosene. In this way, the freight was firmly in his hands, and once the pipeline network was rolled out, he would be able to transport kerosene for a long time. See, shipping will be much cheaper too. As a result, Rockefeller quickly raised funds. Although many people on the board of directors were unwilling to take such a big risk to build a pipeline, Rockefeller defied all objections and resolutely implemented this strategy.
When the pipeline network was built, most of the oil and kerosene in the United States were transported by pipelines. This caused a sharp decrease in the freight volume of railway companies and a large number of railway companies went bankrupt. Rockefeller took advantage of this to firmly Consolidate its position and further monopolize the oil industry.
At the age of 13, with a longing for the United States, Carnegie and his family came to the Port of New York on the east coast of the United States, and then moved to Pittsburgh. The life of immigrants was very poor. Little Carnegie worked as a child laborer during the day and went to night school at night, which was very hard. At the age of 14, he came to Pittsburgh to work as a messenger for the David Telegraph Company. Although he was not familiar with the roads at that time, he made a promise to the company that he could memorize the city's routes within a week. The company's manager was moved by Carnegie's perseverance and kept him. Carnegie also fulfilled his promise and became a journeyman of the company.
At that time, Pittsburgh was not only a transportation hub in the United States, but also a material distribution center and an industrial center. As an advanced communication tool, the telegraph played an extremely important role in this city where industrialists gathered. Carnegie, who walked through the streets delivering telegrams every day, was like entering a "business school." He is familiar with the name and characteristics of each company, and understands the economic relationships and business dealings between the companies. Over time, he became familiar with this invisible "business encyclopedia", which benefited him a lot in his future career. Therefore, when Carnegie looked back on this period, he called it "the first step on the ladder of life."
In 1853, Scott, the director of the Western District of the Pennsylvania Railroad, took a fancy to Carnegie, who had superb telegraph skills, and hired him as a personal telegraph operator and secretary, with a monthly salary of $35. Carnegie was already 18 years old at the time, and he entered this broader world with a strong ambition.
During his more than 10 years at the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Carnegie relied on his diligence and agility to be promoted to director of the company's Western District at the age of 24, with an annual salary of US$1,500, and gradually mastered the management skills of a modern large enterprise. This skill was indispensable when he later organized a huge steel enterprise. At the same time, Carnegie also seized the opportunity, tried his best, participated in investments, and frequently succeeded, slowly accumulating a small amount of wealth, which laid a certain economic foundation for him to start a steel enterprise in the future.
In April 1865, the Civil War ended, and the war created a lot of opportunities. The 29-year-old Carnegie had achieved some success at this time, but he was not satisfied. He wanted to seize this critical stage of his life journey and start his own business. So, he submitted his resignation to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
Before resigning, Carnegie led people to repair bridges and roads, and often thought about whether iron bridges could be used instead of wooden bridges. Although there were many steel factories in Pittsburgh at that time, they were still in their infancy. In 1862, he and several friends founded a company to build iron bridges. On July 4, 1863, both sides of the Civil War began to use warships to fight, giving Carnegie a warning: The age of sailing ships has passed, and the age of steel is coming.
So, after resigning, he traveled to Europe, went to London to inspect the steel research institute there, and decisively bought a steel patent invented by the Dots brothers, and also bought a patent for the coke washing and reduction method. He believed that, These two patents will bring endless wealth.
After returning to the United States, Carnegie began to muster up his energy and work hard. He gathered scattered funds and merged the two companies in which he had previously held shares to form the United Iron and Steel Company. At that time, the steel production and operations in the United States were extremely decentralized. From mining and ironmaking to final products such as rails and iron plates, many manufacturers were required in the process. In addition, middlemen add layers of pressure in every production and marketing link, resulting in a very high cost of the final product. Carnegie was well aware of these shortcomings of traditional steel companies, and he was determined to establish a brand-new modern steel company that integrated supply, production, and sales throughout the production process.
Those two patents enabled Carnegie to quickly produce large amounts of steel
The new modern steel company, which integrated supply, production, and sales into the entire production process, could use Economies of scale greatly reduced production costs, allowing Carnegie to produce cheap and high-quality steel in large quantities.
When he took the first step into the steel industry, he began to boldly introduce the most advanced production technology and talents, drastically improve production management, constantly improve steel production technology, reduce costs, and make himself a leader again and again. Towards success.
By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Carnegie Steel Company had become the largest steel company in the world. It has more than 20,000 employees and the most advanced equipment in the world. Its annual output exceeds the steel output of the United Kingdom, and its annual revenue reaches 40 million US dollars. Carnegie is the company's largest shareholder, but he does not hold positions such as chairman or general manager. His success depends to a large extent on the appointment of a group of talents who understand technology and management. To this day, people often quote one of his famous sayings: "If all my factory equipment and materials are burned down, but as long as I keep my entire team, I will still be a steel king in a few years." He was becoming famous. Afterwards, a journalist visited him and asked him how he worked to achieve what he is today. Carnegie replied: "There are two basic factors why I can succeed: First, I was born in a poor family. When I was a child, I often had one meal and didn't know where the next meal was. I would eat at night. I often hear my parents sighing in order to cope with the poverty they face, so I strive to make progress and work hard when I grow up. Second, I must do everything seriously, no matter how big or small. When I was a textile worker, I worked hard to spin yarn well. Later I worked as a postman. I tried to remember the name and appearance of every household in my postal district. Eventually, I became familiar with almost every household. Try to do every little thing carefully, and then no one will dare to trust you with big things."
As Carnegie's company grew bigger, he was even more eager for wealth. In order to obtain higher profits, Carnegie focused on cutting costs, and human resources were a large part of the cost, because the production of steel required a large number of workers, so Carnegie hoped to exploit workers as much as possible, cut wages, and extend working hours. , a worse working environment. However, Carnegie cherishes his reputation very much and does not want others to blame himself for these sins.
So, Carnegie began to look for someone to do this for him, and he finally chose a man named Frick, because Frick hated unions the most, and he was cruel and only cared about interests. They don't care about the life or death of workers. In order to let Frick do this well, Carnegie promoted Frick to the president of the company step by step. He even deliberately went abroad for vacation to avoid criticism from others.
Frick did not disappoint Carnegie. He successfully extended the working hours of workers to 12 hours a day, and kept the wages extremely low. The workers worked hard and for a long time in a very harsh environment every day. Work, complaints grew, and finally a fierce conflict broke out between the union and Frick. During the 1892 Holmstead steel workers' strike, Carnegie was far away in Scotland, and Frick hired 300 Pinkerton guards. , trying to suppress workers’ strikes. This conflict between labor and management eventually developed into a bloody armed conflict, leaving an extremely disgraceful page in Carnegie's history.
At this time, Carnegie knew that he could not let Frick Hu come again. In order to save the situation and give an explanation to the public, Carnegie could only fire Frick and clean up the mess himself.
This is also the reason why emperors in the past dynasties appointed treacherous ministers, because emperors want to leave a good reputation for themselves, and no one wants to be infamous for thousands of years. However, they often need to do things that will definitely be scolded, such as increasing taxes. Well, to fight against some so-called "loyal ministers" who threaten you, at this time it is best to have someone to help you bear these infamy, which is what the common people call treacherous ministers. The treacherous ministers also know what their own value is. For the sake of glory and wealth, they must scold them. Just scold Zhou Yu. When he hits Huang Gai, one is willing to hit and the other is willing to suffer. The treacherous ministers are also happy to play such a role. It's just that the cunning rabbit dies and the lackey is cooked, and there will be no good end in the end.
On Carnegie's tombstone, there is a meaningful sentence written, "The people buried here know how to use people who are better than themselves." Many people believe that this sentence is the reason for Carnegie's success. The finishing touch to the experience.
This is the essential advantage of a good leader, being able to use their talents for their own use. Just like in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, we all feel that Liu Bei is nothing great, and his force value is far less than that of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Zhao Zilong, was a million miles away from Zhuge Liang in making plans, but why did Liu Bei become their lord? This is Liu Bei's ability. He can recruit these awesome people into his account to work for him. At this point, others are far inferior to Liu Bei.
When Rockefeller and Carnegie were crazily accumulating their wealth, a financial tycoon had been looking for opportunities to create a new industry, become a pioneer in a field, and replace Rockefeller's position. This person was J.P. Morgan.
On April 17, 1837, John Pierpont Morgan was born into a wealthy businessman family in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Morgan has shown extraordinary business talents since he was a child, especially in speculation. He has extraordinary judgment. It can be said that he made his fortune through speculation. The middle-aged Morgan bought up railroads on a large scale, implemented his Morgan system, and controlled a large number of industrial and mining companies in the United States through the Morgan system, concentrating 1/4 of the corporate capital in the United States under his command. Morgan not only used financial capital to control many important sectors in the United States, but also used his huge capital to lend money to foreign countries. Not only countries such as Mexico and Argentina were economically dependent on him, but even old capitalist countries such as Britain and France also relied on him at critical moments. I had to ask for help from Morgan, whose power always exceeded people's imagination.
This is what the current President of the United States said about Morgan
In 1862, the American Civil War had broken out. President Lincoln issued "Order No. 1", implemented the mobilization of the entire army, and The army and navy were ordered to launch a full-scale attack. One day, Ketcham, the son of a Wall Street investment broker and Morgan's new friend, came to chat with Morgan. "My father inquired in Washington that the Northern Army had suffered heavy casualties in the recent period." This news immediately touched Morgan's sensitive nerves. "If someone buys gold in large quantities and sends it to London, the price of gold will skyrocket!" Morgan said calmly. After hearing this, Ketcham admired Morgan so much. Why didn't he think of it? The two began to plan carefully. Finally, a plan was discussed: first secretly buy 4 to 5 million US dollars of gold, and after receiving it, half of it would be sent to London and the other half would be kept. Then he deliberately leaked the news about remitting gold to London.
At this time, it is estimated that many people should know the news of the recent defeat of the Northern Army, and the price of gold will undoubtedly rise. At this time, half of the gold in their hands will be sold. The two did what they said, and things turned out just as they expected. The price of gold soared. Not only did the price of gold in New York rise, but the price of gold in London was also driven up steadily. Win and make a fortune. The New York Times investigated the rise in gold prices and concluded: "There is no legitimate reason to explain the sudden rise in gold prices. This price increase has nothing to do with the export and import of military supplies, grain, cotton, etc. This is The actual manipulator of this incident was a young speculator in New York - J.P. Morgan. "Morgan was very agile in his speculation business and could always think of tricks that others had never thought of."
After his first successful gold speculation, Morgan deeply realized the importance of information. Getting information first means victory.
Information is really important. Take the application for the college entrance examination as an example. At first, because I didn’t know anything and didn’t even know how to search for relevant information on the Internet, I filled out the application randomly and ended up choosing a choice I didn’t know. I like it, and it’s a major with little future. You know, there is a huge difference between a good major and a bad major. Therefore, information acquisition is an ability worth exercising at any time.
Morgan has been looking for a new field. By chance, Morgan learned that Edison was inventing the electric light. The electric light successfully attracted Morgan's attention. He watched the toy electric train in Edison's laboratory moving on the railroad tracks. While running, Morgan realized the broad application prospects of electricity, which was an excellent opportunity.
As a result, Morgan began to invest in Edison's invention. Morgan hoped that Edison's electric light could illuminate the entire United States, thereby replacing Rockefeller and becoming the man who "illuminated America."
Morgan's father was very unfavorable about this, saying bluntly that Morgan was deceived by this toy, and that it was inconsistent with the investment strategy he had always taught Morgan. His father had taught Morgan since he was a child that investments should be prudent. Never invest in emerging industries, the risks are too great. However, Morgan didn't think so. Morgan felt that only by taking greater risks could he get huge returns.
Just as Morgan expected, Edison's electric lights were sought after by the upper class. However, what Morgan wanted was for every household to have access to electric lights, which required the establishment of large power stations and power grids. However, direct current transmission over long distances will cause huge power losses.
At this time, a young man also proposed another type of current-alternating current. This young man was the legend in the scientific world, Tesla. Tesla was originally an assistant in Edison's laboratory. Tesla also introduced his invention of alternating current to Edison many times. However, Edison completely looked down on this young assistant. Edison believed that alternating current was too dangerous and could not be used on a large scale. .
Tesla firmly believed that his alternating current would make mankind rich, so Tesla resigned from the Edison Laboratory and hoped to look for investment outside. In the end, Tesla received funding from Westinghouse , and the alternating current proposed by Tesla also successfully caused waves in society, especially when Tesla invented the asynchronous motor, the advantages of long-distance high-voltage transmission of alternating current were also reflected, and it also solved the problem that machines cannot use alternating current. problem.
Morgan was very angry about this and repeatedly ordered Edison to solve the problem of direct current and alternating current, because the power industry can only have one standard.
In order to suppress alternating current, Edison bribed some state government officials in the United States in 1888 to change the local death penalty from hanging to alternating current electrocution. They also hired elementary school students to catch cats and dogs to conduct experiments with Tesla's alternating current, and electrocuted the cats and dogs to show the dangers of Tesla's alternating current and undermine the status of Tesla's alternating current in people's minds.
Due to the "War of the Current", Tesla and Westinghouse were almost bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla used his own patent royalties to relieve Westinghouse. A crisis.
Sadly, Tesla gave up the alternating current patent in order to greatly promote alternating current for the benefit of mankind. This largely made Tesla impoverished in his later years. If he had this patent, there would be nothing Doubts will bring huge wealth to Tesla, and almost the whole world will use alternating current.
However, Morgan used the alternating current patent to deliberately threaten to file a lawsuit with Westinghouse's Westinghouse Electric, hoping to bring down Westinghouse Electric. Because Westinghouse Electric simply did not have enough funds to bear the high litigation fees, Morgan was forced to Alternating current patents can also be used.
Morgan used capital to occupy Edison's company and established the later famous General Electric Company, becoming the overlord of the electric power industry. Although Morgan lost in the "battle of current", Morgan won the final victory in the capital field where he was best at.
In order to expand their own interests, business giants represented by Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan continued to merge with other companies, gradually forming monopoly trusts in the industry, thus gaining huge wealth, and a large number of American society Citizens were living at a subsistence level, and the growing gap between rich and poor intensified social conflicts. Although these business giants united and used their power to temporarily consolidate their monopoly, when Theodore Roosevelt became president , he was determined to change this situation, launched a challenge to the business giants at the time, forced Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company to be split into multiple companies, and passed antitrust laws, which greatly changed the business landscape of the United States.
At this time, a young entrepreneur happened to take advantage of this anti-monopoly situation and rose rapidly. Ford spent many years developing cheap cars, but the car patent at that time was licensed by American Automobile. Monopolized by the Chamber of Commerce. If Ford wants to sell cars, it must obtain permission from the association. However, if every car has to pay a patent fee to the association, Ford will not be able to sell cars at a price that ordinary people can afford, and Ford feels that the patent for the entire car It was ridiculous that all cars were monopolized by the Chartered Automobile Manufacturers Association of America, so Ford ignored the association's so-called patents and still opened a company to sell its own cars. The Chartered Automobile Manufacturers Association of America naturally would not let Ford get what he wanted, so They took Ford to court, claiming that Ford infringed on their automobile patents.
However, Ford followed the trend, stayed on the antitrust side, and ultimately won the lawsuit.
In 1913, Ford introduced the assembly line to his factory, which greatly increased production. Half of the cars running in the United States in 1918 were Model Ts. Ford took great care to promote and protect the Model T's design. (Ford said, "Any customer could paint this car any color he wanted, as long as it kept its black color.") The design was maintained until 1927. By 1927, Ford produced 15 million Model T cars. This would be a world record within 45 years.
Ford's creative assembly line production method greatly improved the production efficiency of automobiles. This not only allowed workers to get higher wages, but Ford also proposed an 8-hour work system and 5 days a week. .
With the emergence of new antitrust situations, American workers have gained a safer working environment, shorter working hours, and higher wages. The living standards of American citizens have been greatly improved, and the United States has entered a new period of development.
In the fifty years after the end of the American Civil War, the American economy has developed rapidly, which is inseparable from the business tycoons led by Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan in railroads, oil , steel, electrical, finance and other fields. They have formulated orderly regulations for the chaotic market, adopted integrated and integrated strategies to greatly improve production efficiency, which not only enabled them to accumulate astonishing Wealth also brought unprecedented prosperity to the United States. These people who stand at the top of the human pyramid will never be forgotten by history.
Postscript
Although I knew they were rich, I never expected them to be so rich. Poverty limited my imagination...