Cash Flow

Many of the great personal fortunes of the past have flowed from holes in the ground: oil wells. Once the steam engine had been adapted to drive a drill, and a method of cleaning, or ‘refining’ oil had been developed in the mid-19th century, the way was open for oil products to become an indispensable fuel for modern industry. For those who foresaw this, and had the chance to invest in the new oil business, there were vast riches to be gained. It was oil which gave American tycoon John D. Rockefeller (1839 - 1937) the opportunity to acquire possibly the biggest personal fortune in modern times. Rockefeller began his business life at 16 as a book-keeper. By the age of 19, he had saved enough to start a small company, and then entered the oil business, backing Samuel Andrews, the inventor of the oil refining process. In 1870, Rockefeller helped found Standard Oil, which swallowed smaller firms and by 1879 controlled 90 per cent of US oil refineries, making Rockefeller master of 75 per cent of the world's oil production. His huge combine survived until 1911 when the US Supreme Court ordered it to be broken up owing to its overwhelming commercial power. Arab oil sheikhs were often thought to be the wealthiest in the world, but they were usually rulers of states rather than gatherers of truly personal riches.