In 1901, J.P. Morgan orchestrated the creation of the Northern Securities Company, a $400 million holding company that gave him control over approximately one-third of the country’s railways. The consolidation emerged from a fierce competition between James J. Hill, head of the Great Northern …
J.P. MorganJames J. HillEdward H. HarrimanNorthern Securities CompanyGreat Northern Railroad+1 moremonopoly-powerfinancial-consolidationcorporate-mergerrailroad-controlmarket-manipulation
By 1895, following the Panic of 1893 that left one-third of American railroad mileage in receivership, J.P. Morgan had systematically reorganized the nation’s major railroads through a process known as ‘Morganization,’ consolidating competing lines into regional monopolies under …
J.P. MorganJ.P. Morgan & CompanySouthern RailwayErie RailroadNorthern Pacific Railroadbanking-consolidationrailroad-consolidationcorporate-powergilded-agefinancial-control
The banking firm Jay Cooke & Company collapses, triggering a devastating financial panic and economic depression lasting until 1879. Cooke’s firm, heavily invested in the Northern Pacific Railroad and backed by over 60 million acres of federal land grants used as collateral, becomes …
Jay Cooke & CompanyNorthern Pacific RailroadNew York Stock ExchangeEuropean Investorseconomic-crisissystematic-corruptioncorporate-welfarefinancial-manipulation