On October 27, 1887, after two years of negotiations, Henry Osborne Havemeyer orchestrated the formation of the Sugar Refineries Company, commonly known as the “Sugar Trust,” consolidating 17 of the 23 sugar refinery companies operating in the United States. Havemeyer successfully …
Henry Osborne HavemeyerSugar Refineries CompanyAmerican Sugar Refining Companymonopoly-powercorporate-consolidationtrust-formationprice-fixingmarket-manipulation
On January 2, 1882, John D. Rockefeller and 40 other investors signed the Standard Oil Trust Agreement, creating the first modern corporate monopoly structure that controlled 90% of American oil refining. The trust pooled securities from 40 companies under nine trustees—John and William Rockefeller, …
John D. RockefellerStandard Oil CompanyHenry FlaglerSamuel C. T. DoddWilliam Rockefellercorporate-powermonopolytrust-formationgilded-ageinstitutional-capture
Samuel C. T. Dodd, chief attorney for Standard Oil Company, developed a revolutionary legal structure in 1879 that adapted the common law instrument of a trust to create the modern business trust, circumventing Ohio’s anti-trust laws and state restrictions on interstate corporate ownership. …
Samuel C. T. DoddJohn D. RockefellerStandard Oil Companycorporate-powerlegal-innovationregulatory-evasioninstitutional-capturetrust-formation