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84-557: Zaibatsu ( 財閥 , lit.   ' asset clique ' ) is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertically integrated business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan , whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period to World War II . A zaibatsu's general structure included a family-owned holding company on top, and

168-523: A 65.4% payout ratio . The total net earnings from 1882 to 1906 amounted to $ 838,783,800 (equivalent to $ 21,321,800,000 in 2023), exceeding the dividends by $ 290,347,800, which was used for plant expansions. In 1896, John Rockefeller retired from the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, the holding company of the group, but remained president and a major shareholder. Vice-president John Dustin Archbold took

252-513: A British petroleum entrepreneur in Mexico, began negotiating with Standard Oil in 1912–13 to sell his "El Aguila" oil company, since Pearson was no longer bound to promises to the Porfirio Díaz regime (1876–1911) to not to sell to U.S. interests. However, the deal fell through and the firm was sold to Royal Dutch Shell . Standard Oil's production increased so rapidly it soon exceeded U.S. demand and

336-598: A bank which financed the other, mostly industrial subsidiaries within them. Although the zaibatsu played an important role in the Japanese economy beginning in 1868, they especially increased in number and importance following the Russo-Japanese War , World War I , and Japan's subsequent attempt to conquer East Asia and the Pacific Rim during the interwar period and World War II. After World War II, they were dissolved by

420-466: A beam of 32 feet (9.8 m), a depth of 10 feet 6 inches (3.2 m), and had a bulletproof wheelhouse. Mei Ping ("Beautiful Tranquility"), launched in 1927, was designed off-shore, but assembled and finished in Shanghai. Its oil-fuel burners came from the U.S. and water-tube boilers came from England. Standard Oil Company and Socony-Vacuum Oil Company became partners in providing markets for

504-532: A business. This group includes land , buildings , machinery , furniture , tools , IT equipment (e.g., laptops), and certain wasting resources (e.g., timberland and minerals ). They are written off against profits over their anticipated life by charging depreciation expenses (with exception of land assets). Accumulated depreciation is shown in the face of the balance sheet or in the notes. These are also called capital assets in management accounting . A company which invests too much of it capital in assets

588-641: A dozen or so within Standard Oil knew the extent of company operations. The committee counsel, Simon Sterne , questioned representatives from the Erie Railroad and the New York Central Railroad and discovered that at least half of their long-haul traffic granted rebates and much of this traffic came from Standard Oil. The committee then shifted focus to Standard Oil's operations. John Dustin Archbold , as president of Acme Oil Company, denied that Acme

672-457: A gallon or forty-two cents a barrel, an effective 71% discount from its listed rates in return for a promise to ship at least 60 carloads of oil daily and to handle loading and unloading on its own. Smaller companies decried such deals as unfair because they were not producing enough oil to qualify for discounts. Standard's actions and secret transport deals helped its kerosene price to drop from 58 to 26 cents from 1865 to 1870. Rockefeller used

756-595: A growing Standard Oil spin-off in its own right. In the Asia-Pacific region, Jersey Standard had oil production and refineries in the Dutch East Indies but no marketing network. Socony-Vacuum had Asian marketing outlets supplied remotely from California. In 1933, Jersey Standard and Socony-Vacuum merged their interests in the region into a 50–50 joint venture. Standard-Vacuum Oil Co., or "Stanvac", operated in 50 countries, from East Africa to New Zealand , before it

840-463: A large part in the running of the firm. In the year 1904, Standard Oil controlled 91% of oil refinement and 85% of final sales in the United States. At this time, state and federal laws sought to counter this development with antitrust laws. In 1911, the U.S. Justice Department sued the group under the federal antitrust law and ordered its breakup into 39 companies. Standard Oil's market position

924-510: A need for tangible asset managers. A wasting asset is an asset that irreversibly declines in value over time. This could include vehicles and machinery, and in financial markets, options contracts that continually lose time value after purchase. Mines and quarries in use are wasting assets. An asset classified as wasting may be treated differently for tax and other purposes than one that does not lose value; this may be accounted for by applying depreciation . Standard Oil Standard Oil

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1008-877: A quarter of the shares of the resultant companies, and those share values mostly doubled, he emerged from the dissolution as the richest man in the world. The dissolution had actually propelled Rockefeller's personal wealth. By 1911 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled, in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States , that Standard Oil of New Jersey must be dissolved under the Sherman Antitrust Act and split into 39 companies. Two of these companies were Standard Oil of New Jersey (Jersey Standard or Esso), which eventually became Exxon , and Standard Oil of New York (Socony), which eventually became Mobil ; those two companies later merged into ExxonMobil . Over

1092-570: A result, asset managers use deterioration modeling to predict the future conditions of assets. Depreciation is applied to tangible assets when those assets have an anticipated lifespan of more than one year. This process of depreciation is used instead of allocating the entire expense to one year. Tangible assets such as art, furniture, stamps, gold, wine, toys and books are recognized as an asset class in their own right. Many high-net-worth individuals will seek to include these tangible assets as part of their overall asset portfolio. This has created

1176-543: A single holding agency managed by nine trustees. The original trust was valued at $ 70 million. On March 21, 1892, the Standard Oil Trust was dissolved and its holdings were reorganized into 20 independent companies that formed an unofficial union referred to as "Standard Oil Interests." In 1899, the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) acquired the shares of the other 19 companies and became the holding company for

1260-414: A symbol of the reliable "standards" of quality and service that he envisioned for the nascent oil industry. In the early years, John D. Rockefeller dominated the combine; he was the single most important figure in shaping the new oil industry. He quickly distributed power and the tasks of policy formation to a system of committees, but always remained the largest shareholder . Authority was centralized in

1344-410: A tanker, was specially designed for river duty. It was built by New Engineering and Shipbuilding Works of Shanghai, who also built the 500-ton launch Mei Foo in 1912. Mei Hsia ("Beautiful Gorges") was launched in 1926 and carried 350 tons of bulk oil in three holds, plus a forward cargo hold, and space between decks for carrying general cargo or packed oil. She had a length of 206 feet (63 m),

1428-423: A value to the firm because they give the firm an advantage in the marketplace. Intangible assets include goodwill , intellectual property (such as copyrights , trademarks , patents , computer programs ), and financial assets, including financial investments, bonds , and companies' shares . IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards), the most widely used financial reporting system, defines: "An asset

1512-435: A year or in the operating cycle (whichever is longer), without disturbing the normal operations of a business. These assets are continually turned over in the course of a business during normal business activity. There are 5 major items included into current assets: Marketable securities : securities that can be converted into cash quickly at a reasonable price The phrase net current assets (also called working capital )

1596-399: Is a present economic resource controlled by the entity as a result of past events. An economic resource is a right that has the potential to produce economic benefits." The definition under US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles used in the United States of America): "An asset is a present right of an entity to an economic benefit." CON 8.4 provides the following discussion of

1680-447: Is any form in which wealth can be held. There is a growing analytical interest in assets and asset forms in other social sciences too, especially in terms of how a variety of things (e.g., personality, personal data, ecosystems, etc.) can be turned into an asset. In the financial accounting sense of the term, it is not necessary to have title (a legally enforceable ownership right) to an asset. An asset may be recognized as long as

1764-625: Is called an asset heavy company. On the other hand, a company which operates with very few to no assets is called a light asset model. Sectors like manufacturing, medical, engineering and chemical comprise heavy asset model businesses, whereas digital businesses like AirBNB , Uber , Zomato etc. operate as light asset model businesses. Intangible assets lack physical substance and usually are very hard to evaluate. They include patents , copyrights , franchises & licenses , goodwill , trademarks , trade names , etc. These assets are (according to US GAAP) amortized to expense over 5 to 40 years with

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1848-532: Is often used and refers to the total of current assets less the total of current liabilities . Often referred to simply as "investments". Long-term investments are to be held for many years and are not intended to be disposed of in the near future. This group usually consists of three types of investments : Different forms of insurance may also be treated as long-term investments. Also referred to as PP&E (property, plant and equipment), these are purchased for continued and long-term use to earn profit in

1932-475: Is the common name for a corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. 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 . The trust was born on January 2, 1882, when a group of 41 investors signed the Standard Oil Trust Agreement, which pooled their securities of 40 companies into

2016-616: The Allied occupation forces and succeeded by the keiretsu (groups of banks, manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors). Equivalents to the zaibatsu can still be found in other countries, such as the chaebol conglomerates of South Korea . The term zaibatsu was coined in 19th century Japan from the Sino-Japanese roots zai 財 ('asset', 'wealth' from Middle Chinese dzoi ) and batsu 閥 ('clique', 'group', from Middle Chinese bjot ). Although zaibatsu themselves existed from

2100-538: The Chevron Corp . Some have speculated that if not for that court ruling, Standard Oil could have possibly been worth more than $ 1 trillion in the 2000s. Whether the breakup of Standard Oil was beneficial is a matter of some controversy. Some economists believe that Standard Oil was not a monopoly, and argue that the intense free market competition resulted in cheaper oil prices and more diverse petroleum products. Critics claimed that success in meeting consumer needs

2184-643: The Erie Canal as a cheap alternative form of transportation—in the summer months when it was not frozen—to ship his refined oil from Cleveland to the industrialized Northeast. In the winter months, his only options were the three trunk lines—the Erie Railroad and the New York Central Railroad to New York City, and the Pennsylvania Railroad to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Competitors disliked

2268-457: The Japanese military , which nationalized a significant portion of their production capability during World War II. Remaining assets were also highly damaged by destruction during the war. Under the Allied occupation after the surrender of Japan , a partially successful attempt was made to dissolve the zaibatsu. Many of the economic advisors accompanying the SCAP administration had experience with

2352-706: The New Deal and were highly suspicious of monopolies and restrictive business practices, which they felt to be both inefficient, and to be a form of corporatocracy (and thus inherently anti- democratic ). During the occupation of Japan , sixteen zaibatsu were targeted for complete dissolution, and twenty-six more for reorganization after dissolution. Among the zaibatsu that were targeted for dissolution in 1947 were Asano, Furukawa, Nakajima, Nissan , Nomura, and Okura. In addition, Yasuda dissolved itself in 1946. The controlling families' assets were seized, holding companies eliminated, and interlocking directorships , essential to

2436-502: The Sherman Antitrust Act (Senate 51–1; House 242–0), a source of American anti-monopoly laws. The law forbade every contract, scheme, deal, or conspiracy to restrain trade, though the phrase "restraint of trade" remained subjective. The Standard Oil group quickly attracted attention from antitrust authorities leading to a lawsuit filed by Ohio Attorney General David K. Watson . From 1882 to 1906, Standard paid out $ 548,436,000 (equivalent to $ 13,941,200,000 in 2023) in dividends at

2520-430: The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, for sustaining a monopoly and restraining interstate commerce by: Rebates, preferences, and other discriminatory practices in favor of the combination by railroad companies; restraint and monopolization by control of pipe lines, and unfair practices against competing pipe lines; contracts with competitors in restraint of trade; unfair methods of competition, such as local price cutting at

2604-654: The South Improvement Co. which would have allowed him to receive rebates for shipping and drawbacks on oil his competitors shipped. But when this deal became known, competitors convinced the Pennsylvania Legislature to revoke South Improvement's charter. No oil was ever shipped under this arrangement. Using highly effective tactics, later widely criticized, it absorbed or destroyed most of its competition in Cleveland in less than two months and later throughout

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2688-582: 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. It ordered Standard to break up into 39 independent companies with different boards of directors, the biggest two of the companies being Standard Oil of New Jersey (which became Exxon ) and Standard Oil of New York (which became Mobil ). Standard's president, John D. Rockefeller, had long since retired from any management role. But, as he owned

2772-505: The Yangtze River , the largest of which were Mei Ping (1,118  gross register tons  (GRT)), Mei Hsia (1,048 GRT), and Mei An (934 GRT). All three were destroyed in the 1937 USS Panay incident . Mei An was launched in 1901 and was the first vessel in the fleet. Other vessels included Mei Chuen , Mei Foo , Mei Hung , Mei Kiang , Mei Lu , Mei Tan , Mei Su , Mei Hsia , Mei Ying , and Mei Yun . Mei Hsia ,

2856-725: The balance sheet . On the balance sheet, additional sub-classifications are generally required by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which vary from country to country. Assets can be divided into current and non-current (a.k.a. fixed or long-lived). Current assets are generally subclassified as cash and cash equivalents, receivables, inventory, and accruals (such as pre-paid expenses). Non-current assets are generally subclassified as investments (financial instruments), property, plant and equipment, intangible assets (including goodwill) and other assets (such as resources or biological assets). Current assets are cash and others that are expected to be converted to cash or consumed either in

2940-549: The inter-war period the zaibatsu aided Japanese militarism and benefited from the conquest of East Asia by receiving lucrative contracts. When Japan emerged from the self-imposed, pre-Meiji era sakoku in 1867, Western countries already had very dominant and internationally significant companies. Standard Oil , Carnegie Steel Company , AT&T , General Electric , Western Union , Friedrich Krupp , Thyssen , Robert Bosch GmbH , Lloyd's of London , Reckitt & Sons , East India Company , and BP were very dominant and were

3024-592: The yakuza . This may provide a plot hook, or simply provide the background for a character from an influential Japanese family. The "big four" Second-tier zaibatsu Bankrupt zaibatsu Asset Assets can be grouped into two major classes: tangible assets and intangible assets . Tangible assets contain various subclasses, including current assets and fixed assets . Current assets include cash , inventory , accounts receivable , while fixed assets include land , buildings and equipment . Intangible assets are non-physical resources and rights that have

3108-802: The "old mechanisms of financial and administrative control" that zaibatsu once enjoyed have been destroyed. Despite the absence of an actual sweeping change to the existence of large industrial conglomerates in Japan, the zaibatsu's previous vertically integrated chain of command , ending with a single family, has now widely been displaced by the horizontal relationships of association and coordination characteristic of keiretsu ( 系列 ) . Keiretsu , meaning "series" or " subsidiary ", could be interpreted as being suggestive of this difference. The term zaibatsu has been used often in books, comics, games, and films to refer to large and usually sinister Japanese corporations, often involved in shady dealings or with connections to

3192-414: The 19th century, the term was not in common use until after World War I . By definition, the zaibatsu were large family-controlled vertical monopolies consisting of a holding company on top, with a wholly-owned banking subsidiary providing finance, and several industrial subsidiaries dominating specific sectors of a market, either solely or through a number of subsidiary companies. The zaibatsu were

3276-593: The Big Four, consensus is lacking as to which companies can be called zaibatsu, and which cannot. After the Russo-Japanese War, a number of so-called "second-tier" zaibatsu also emerged, mostly as the result of business conglomerations and the awarding of lucrative military contracts. Some more famous second-tier zaibatsu include the Ōkura , Furukawa , and Nakajima groups. The early zaibatsu permitted some public shareholding of some subsidiary companies, but never of

3360-490: The Standard Oil Co. charges altogether excessive prices where it meets no competition, and particularly where there is little likelihood of competitors entering the field, and that, on the other hand, where competition is active, it frequently cuts prices to a point which leaves even the Standard little or no profit, and which more often leaves no profit to the competitor, whose costs are ordinarily somewhat higher. On May 15, 1911,

3444-475: The Standard into markets, or they have been made high to keep its competitors out of markets. Trifling differences in distances are made an excuse for large differences in rates favorable to the Standard Oil Co., while large differences in distances are ignored where they are against the Standard. Sometimes connecting roads prorate on oil—that is, make through rates which are lower than the combination of local rates; sometimes they refuse to prorate; but in either case

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3528-398: The ability to restrict others' access to the benefit to which the entity is entitled. This accounting definition of assets includes items that are not owned by an enterprise, for example a leased building ( Finance lease ), but excludes employees because, while they have the capacity to generate economic benefits, an employer cannot control an employee. In economics , an asset (economics)

3612-442: The changing politics of the occupation during the reverse course served as a crippling, if not terminal, roadblock to zaibatsu elimination. Today, the influence of the zaibatsu can still be seen in the form of financial groups, institutions, and larger companies whose origins reach back to the original zaibatsu, often sharing the same original family names (for example, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ). However, some argue that

3696-482: The company began viewing export markets. In the 1890s, Standard Oil began marketing kerosene to China's large population of close to 400 million as lamp fuel. For its Chinese trademark and brand, Standard Oil adopted the name Mei Foo ( Chinese : 美孚 ) as a transliteration. Mei Foo also became the name of the tin lamp that Standard Oil produced and gave away or sold cheaply to Chinese farmers, encouraging them to switch from vegetable oil to kerosene. The response

3780-706: The company include Henry Flagler, developer of the Florida East Coast Railway and resort cities, and Henry H. Rogers , who built the Virginian Railway . In 1885, Standard Oil of Ohio moved its headquarters from Cleveland to its permanent headquarters at 26 Broadway in New York City . Concurrently, the trustees of Standard Oil of Ohio chartered the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey (SOCNJ) to take advantage of New Jersey's more lenient corporate stock ownership laws. In 1890, Congress overwhelmingly passed

3864-565: The company together) and the Rockefeller family controlled a majority of the stock during all the history of the company up to the present time." These families reinvested most of the dividends in other industries, especially railroads. They also invested heavily in the gas and the electric lighting business (including the giant Consolidated Gas Co. of New York City ). They made large purchases of stock in U.S. Steel , Amalgamated Copper , and even Corn Products Refining Co. Weetman Pearson ,

3948-572: The company's business practices, but consumers liked the lower prices. Standard Oil, being formed well before the discovery of the Spindletop oil field (in Texas, far from Standard Oil's base in the Midwest) and a demand for oil other than for heat and light, was well placed to control the growth of the oil business. The company was perceived to own and control all aspects of the trade. In 1872, Rockefeller joined

4032-579: The company's main office in Cleveland, but decisions in the office were made cooperatively. 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. In a seminal deal, in 1868, the Lake Shore Railroad, a part of the New York Central , gave Rockefeller's firm a going rate of one cent

4116-447: The exception of goodwill. Websites are treated differently in different countries and may fall under either tangible or intangible assets. Tangible assets are those that have a physical substance, such as currencies , buildings , real estate , vehicles , inventories , equipment , art collections , precious metals , rare-earth metals , Industrial metals, and crops. The physical health of tangible assets deteriorate over time. As

4200-758: The heart of economic and industrial activity within the Empire of Japan , and held great influence over Japanese national and foreign policies. The Rikken Seiyūkai political party was regarded as an extension of the Mitsui group, which also had very strong connections with the Imperial Japanese Army . Likewise, the Rikken Minseitō was connected to the Mitsubishi group, as was the Imperial Japanese Navy . The zaibatsu were viewed with suspicion by both

4284-652: The largest public oil company in the world. Many of the companies disassociated from Jersey Standard in 1911 remained powerful businesses through the twentieth century. These included the Standard Oil Company of New York , Standard Oil Company (Indiana) , Standard Oil Company (California) , Ohio Oil Company , Continental Oil Company , and Atlantic Refining Company . Standard Oil's prehistory began in 1863, as an Ohio partnership formed by industrialist John D. Rockefeller , his brother William Rockefeller , Henry Flagler , chemist Samuel Andrews , silent partner Stephen V. Harkness , and Oliver Burr Jennings , who had married

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4368-563: The major players in international trade. The British Empire , under the leadership of the Baring family , the Rothschild family and the Guinness family , as well as Imperial Germany and other Western countries were colonizing much of the undeveloped world, and Japanese companies realized that in order to remain sovereign, they needed to develop the same methodology and mindset of Western companies, and

4452-401: The nature of an asset: E17: An asset has the following two essential characteristics: (a) It is a present right (b) The right is to an economic benefit. E18:The combination of those two characteristics allows an entity to obtain the economic benefit and control others' access to the benefit. A present right of an entity to an economic benefit entitles the entity to the economic benefit and

4536-564: The next few decades, both companies grew significantly. Jersey Standard, led by Walter C. Teagle , became the largest oil producer in the world. It acquired a 50 percent share in Humble Oil & Refining Co. , a Texas oil producer. Socony purchased a 45 percent interest in Magnolia Petroleum Co. , a major refiner, marketer, and pipeline transporter. In 1931, Socony merged with Vacuum Oil Co. , an industry pioneer dating back to 1866, and

4620-540: The northeastern United States. A. Barton Hepburn was directed by the New York State Legislature in 1879, to investigate the railroads' practice of giving rebates to their largest clients within the state . Merchants without ties to the oil industry had pressed for the hearings. Prior to the committee's investigation, few knew of the size of Standard Oil's control and influence on seemingly unaffiliated oil refineries and pipelines—Hawke (1980) cites that only

4704-709: The oil reserves in the Middle East. In 1906, SOCONY (later Mobil) opened its first fuel terminals in Alexandria. It explored in Palestine before the World War broke out, but ran into conflict with the local authorities. By 1890, Standard Oil controlled 88 percent of the refined oil flows in the United States. The state of Ohio successfully sued Standard, compelling the dissolution of the trust in 1892. But Standard simply separated Standard Oil of Ohio and kept control of it. Eventually,

4788-409: The old system of inter-company coordination, were outlawed. The Matsushita Electric Industrial Company (which later took the name Panasonic), while not a zaibatsu, was originally also targeted for breakup, but was saved by a petition signed by 15,000 of its union workers and their families. However, complete dissolution of the zaibatsu was never achieved, mostly because the U.S. government rescinded

4872-399: The open arrangement of rates; (3) discriminations in classification and rules of shipment; (4) discriminations in the treatment of private tank cars. The government alleged: Almost everywhere the rates from the shipping points used exclusively, or almost exclusively, by the Standard are relatively lower than the rates from the shipping points of its competitors. Rates have been made low to let

4956-451: The orders in an effort to reindustrialize Japan as a bulwark against communism in Asia. Zaibatsu as a whole were widely considered to be beneficial to the Japanese economy and government, and the opinions of the Japanese public, of the zaibatsu workers and management, and of the entrenched bureaucracy regarding plans for zaibatsu dissolution ranged from unenthusiastic to disapproving. Additionally,

5040-427: The period of 1904 to 1906 and concluded that "beyond question ... the dominant position of the Standard Oil Co. in the refining industry was due to unfair practices—to abuse of the control of pipe-lines, to railroad discriminations, and to unfair methods of competition in the sale of the refined petroleum products". Because of competition from other firms, their market share gradually eroded to 70 percent by 1906 which

5124-426: The points where necessary to suppress competition; [and] espionage of the business of competitors, the operation of bogus independent companies, and payment of rebates on oil, with the like intent. The lawsuit argued that Standard's monopolistic practices had taken place over the preceding four years: The general result of the investigation has been to disclose the existence of numerous and flagrant discriminations by

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5208-417: The present ability to prevent other parties from directing the use of the economic resource and from obtaining the economic benefits that may flow from it. It follows that, if one party controls an economic resource, no other party controls that resource. The accounting equation is the mathematical structure of the balance sheet . It relates assets, liabilities, and owner's equity : Assets are reported on

5292-577: The railroads in behalf of the Standard Oil Co. and its affiliated corporations. With comparatively few exceptions, mainly of other large concerns in California, the Standard has been the sole beneficiary of such discriminations. In almost every section of the country that company has been found to enjoy some unfair advantages over its competitors, and some of these discriminations affect enormous areas. The government identified four illegal patterns: (1) secret and semi-secret railroad rates; (2) discriminations in

5376-450: The reporting entity controls the rights (economic resource) the asset represents. The essential characteristic of control is the ability to benefit from the asset and prevent other entities from doing likewise. The IFRS conceptual framework explains (CF 4.20 ): An entity controls an economic resource if it has the present ability to direct the use of the economic resource and obtain the economic benefits that may flow from it. Control includes

5460-510: The reporting of Ida Tarbell , who wrote The History of the Standard Oil Company . The net value of companies severed from Jersey Standard in 1911 was $ 375 million, which constituted 57 per cent of Jersey's value. After the dissolution, Jersey Standard became the United States' second largest corporation after United States Steel . The Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), which was renamed Exxon in 1973 and ExxonMobil in 1999, remains

5544-599: The result of their policy is to favor the Standard Oil Co. Different methods are used in different places and under different conditions, but the net result is that from Maine to California the general arrangement of open rates on petroleum oil is such as to give the Standard an unreasonable advantage over its competitors. The government said that Standard raised prices to its monopolistic customers but lowered them to hurt competitors, often disguising its illegal actions by using bogus, supposedly independent companies it controlled. The evidence is, in fact, absolutely conclusive that

5628-455: The right and left of the political spectrum in the 1920s and 1930s. Although the world was in the throes of a worldwide economic depression , the zaibatsu were prospering through currency speculation , maintenance of low labour costs and military procurement. Matters came to a head in the League of Blood Incident of March 1932, with the assassination of the managing director of Mitsui, after which

5712-782: The scale of companies, Rockefeller and his associates developed innovative ways of organizing to effectively manage their fast-growing enterprise. On January 2, 1882, they combined their disparate companies, spread across dozens of states, under a single group of trustees. By a secret agreement, the existing 37 stockholders conveyed their shares "in trust" to nine trustees: John and William Rockefeller, Oliver H. Payne , Charles Pratt , Henry Flagler , John D. Archbold , William G. Warden, Jabez Bostwick , and Benjamin Brewster . "Whereas some state legislatures imposed special taxes on out-of-state corporations doing business in their states, other legislatures forbade corporations in their state from holding

5796-468: The sister of William Rockefeller's wife. In 1870, Rockefeller abolished the partnership and incorporated Standard Oil in Ohio. Of the initial 10,000 shares, John D. Rockefeller received 2,667, Harkness received 1,334, William Rockefeller, Flagler, and Andrews received 1,333 each, Jennings received 1,000, and the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler received 1,000. Rockefeller chose the "Standard Oil" name as

5880-657: The state of New Jersey changed its incorporation laws to allow a company to hold shares in other companies in any state. So, in 1899, the Standard Oil Trust, based at 26 Broadway in New York, was legally reborn as a holding company , the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey (SOCNJ), which held stock in 41 other companies, which controlled other companies, which in turn controlled yet other companies. According to Daniel Yergin in his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (1990), this conglomerate

5964-493: The stock of companies based elsewhere. (Legislators established such restrictions in the hope that they would force successful companies to incorporate—and thus pay taxes—in their state.)" Standard Oil's organizational concept proved so successful that other giant enterprises adopted this "trust" form. By 1882, Rockefeller's top aide was John Dustin Archbold , whom he left in control after disengaging from business to concentrate on philanthropy after 1896. Other notable principals of

6048-587: The top holding company or key subsidiaries. The monopolistic business practices by the zaibatsu resulted in a closed circle of companies until Japanese industrial expansion on the Asian mainland ( Manchukuo ) began in the 1930s, which allowed for the rise of a number of new groups ( shinko zaibatsu ), including Nissan . These new zaibatsu differed from the traditional zaibatsu only in that they were not controlled by specific families, and not in terms of business practices. The zaibatsu had been viewed with some ambivalence by

6132-466: The trust. Jersey Standard operated a near monopoly in the American oil industry from 1899 until 1911 and was the largest corporation in the United States. In 1911, the landmark Supreme Court case Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States found Jersey Standard guilty of anticompetitive practices and ordered it to break up its holdings. The charge against Jersey came about in part as a consequence of

6216-490: The zaibatsu attempted to improve their public image through increased charity work. The zaibatsu were at the heart of economic and industrial activity within the Empire of Japan since Japanese industrialization accelerated during the Meiji era . They held great influence over Japanese national and foreign policies which only increased following the Japanese victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and Japan's victories over Germany during World War I . During

6300-644: The zaibatsu emerged. The "Big Four" zaibatsu ( 四大財閥 , Yondai Zaibatsu ) of, in chronological order of founding, Sumitomo , Mitsui , Mitsubishi , and Yasuda were the most significant zaibatsu groups. Two of them, Sumitomo and Mitsui, had roots in the Edo period while Mitsubishi and Yasuda traced their origins to the Meiji Restoration . Throughout Meiji to Shōwa, the government employed their financial powers and expertise for various endeavors, including tax collection , military procurement and foreign trade . Beyond

6384-467: Was a Standard company only from 1908 until 1911. One of the original " Muckrakers " Ida M. Tarbell , was an American author and journalist whose father was an oil producer whose business had failed because of Rockefeller's business dealings. After extensive interviews with a sympathetic senior executive of Standard Oil, Henry H. Rogers , Tarbell's investigations of Standard Oil fueled growing public attacks on Standard Oil and monopolies in general. Her work

6468-410: Was associated with Standard Oil. He then admitted to being a director of Standard Oil. The committee's final report scolded the railroads for their rebate policies and cited Standard Oil as an example. This scolding was largely moot to Standard Oil's interests since long-distance oil pipelines were now their preferred method of transportation. In response to state laws that had the result of limiting

6552-458: Was dissolved in 1962. Rockefeller's original company, Standard Oil Company of Ohio ( Sohio ), effectively ceased to exist when it was purchased by BP in 1987. BP continued to sell gasoline under the Sohio brand until 1991. Other Standard oil entities include "Standard Oil of Indiana" which became Amoco after other mergers and a name change in the 1980s, and "Standard Oil of California" which became

6636-597: Was formed in 1933. To distribute its products, Standard Oil constructed storage tanks, canneries (bulk oil from large ocean tankers was re-packaged into 5-US-gallon (19 L; 4.2 imp gal) tins), warehouses, and offices in key Chinese cities. For inland distribution, the company had motor tank trucks and railway tank cars, and for river navigation, it had a fleet of low-draft steamers and other vessels. Stanvac's North China Division, based in Shanghai, owned hundreds of vessels, including motor barges, steamers, launches, tugboats, and tankers. Up to 13 tankers operated on

6720-507: Was initially established through an emphasis on efficiency and responsibility. While most companies dumped gasoline in rivers (this was before the automobile was popular), Standard used it to fuel its machines. While other companies' refineries piled mountains of heavy waste, Rockefeller found ways to sell it. For example, Standard bought the company that invented and produced Vaseline , the Chesebrough Manufacturing Co. , which

6804-552: Was positive, sales boomed and China became Standard Oil's largest market in Asia. Prior to Pearl Harbor, Stanvac was the largest single U.S. investment in Southeast Asia . The North China Department of Socony (Standard Oil Company of New York) operated a subsidiary called Socony River and Coastal Fleet, North Coast Division, which became the North China Division of Stanvac (Standard Vacuum Oil Company) after that company

6888-637: Was published in 19 parts in McClure's magazine from November 1902 to October 1904, then in 1904 as the book The History of the Standard Oil Co . The Standard Oil Trust was controlled by a small group of families. Rockefeller stated in 1910: "I think it is true that the Pratt family, the Payne– Whitney family (which were one, as all the stock came from Colonel Payne), the Harkness-Flagler family (which came into

6972-449: Was seen by the public as all-pervasive, controlled by a select group of directors, and completely unaccountable. In 1904, Standard controlled 91 percent of production and 85 percent of final sales. Most of its output was kerosene , of which 55 percent was exported around the world. After 1900 it did not try to force competitors out of business by selling at a loss. The federal Commissioner of Corporations studied Standard's operations from

7056-434: Was the year when the antitrust case was filed against Standard. Standard's market share was 64 percent by 1911 when Standard was ordered broken up. At least 147 refining companies were competing with Standard including Gulf, Texaco, and Shell. It did not try to monopolize the exploration and extraction of oil (its share in 1911 was 11 percent). In 1909, the U.S. Justice Department sued Standard under federal antitrust law,

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