In 1916, Rockefeller was announced as the US’ official first billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the country's economy.
Do you know who is believed to be the world's first billionaire? Well, in this article, we will talk about American business magnate and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller Sr, believed to have already earned the tag of the world’s first billionaire.
John Davison Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 in Upstate New York. His family eventually settled in Cleveland after moving several times. At 16 years of age, He became an assistant bookkeeper and at 20, he concentrated his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder.
Standard Oil brought Rockefeller a lot of wealth along with its fair share of controversy. In 1911, the Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil must be dismantled because it violated federal antitrust laws. The court-ordered disintegration of Standard Oil.
In the year 1913, Rockefeller’s personal wealth, which stood at $900 million, was more than 2% of the US GDP of $39.1 billion that year.
At its peak, Standard Oil was said to be the largest petroleum company in the world, and it is believed to have made John D. Rockefeller the wealthiest American of all time.
Standard Oil split into firms like ExxonMobil and Chevron, making him a billionaire. In 1916, Rockefeller was announced as the US’ official first billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the US economy.
According to Time, he is still one of the richest people ever, with an estimated wealth of $340 billion (adjusted, 2015).
Rockefeller donated over $500 million to various philanthropic causes. The Rockefeller Foundation was the largest grant-making foundation in the world and its founder was deemed the most generous philanthropist in US history.
Rockefeller, died at the age of 97, on May 23, 1937, however, he lived so long that his life insurance company had to pay him $5 million.
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 "Meet world’s first billionaire and it's not Warren Buffett or Bill Gates")
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