William Rockefeller Jr.: Being Shrewd Can Be Rewarding

William Rockefeller Jr. was an American financier who co-founded the Standard Oil with his elder brother John. A member of the prominent Rockefeller family, William was born on May 31, 1841 in Richford, New York.

William first engaged in the oil business in 1865 when he established his own oil refinery. Rockefeller & Andrews, a partnership where John was a partner, absorbed William’s refinery in 1867. This partnership became the Standard Oil in 1870. William was said to be very adept when it comes to business matters. Standard Oil appointed him to be the company’s representative in New York until 1911. William also had interests in other industries including public utilities, railways and copper. He also helped establish the National City Bank of New York which is a part of the Citigroup today.

Together with Henry Rogers, a fellow principal in Standard Oil, William established the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company. The duo devised a deceptive plan of making a profit of $36 million. They acquired Anaconda Properties for $39 million with the agreement that the check will be deposited in the National City Bank and remain there for a period of time. (The National City Bank was ran by William’s friends.) William and Henry established a paper organization and named it Amalgamated Copper Mining Company using their employees as dummy directors and priced the company at $75 million. Then they had Amalgamated Copper purchase Anaconda from them at $75 million worth of capital stock. Then, using Amalgamated Copper as collateral, they loaned $39 million from the bank. They sold $75 million worth of Amalgamated Copper capital stock to the public, acquired Anaconda for $36 million, and kept $39 million in profit.