Essay, Research Paper: Gates Vs Rockefeller

Gates vs. Rockefeller (an epic duel between to huge business moguls)

Over the years there have been many businesses and businessman. Some have prospered and some have lost everything. But only a select few have ever dominated an entire market and form a true monopoly. The government forbids such businesses but people still strive to achieve such stature. The two true powerhouses of the past 300 years in the business world would undoubtedly be William Henry Gates 3rd and John Davison Rockefeller. Both of these two business geniuses have unique stories about their rise to the top and there fall, by reading this essay you shall gain a better understanding of their stories and dealing"�

William Gates was born on October 28, 1955. His family had a history of being good in business and politics. His father was a prominent lawyer and his grandfather a president of a bank. Bill was a naturally gifted child who excelled in every course. His parents decided to send him to a private school, which had an enormous effect on him, due to the fact he was introduced to computers. It was during his private school years where he met Paul Allen. Allan, Gates and a few other kids, started using computers to write programs but decided that they need someway to practically use the machine in the real world. They got their first chance, by chance when Paul saw a magazine with a picture of a personal computer. He told Gates, who was a student at Harvard, and Decided to call the company and tell them they had written an operating system for the computer. This however was a lie because they didn't even own one of these machines. They had one chance to test the program and it worked perfectly. Gates then dropped out of Harvard and he and Allen started a new company called Microsoft. In 1980, approached the two about programming a program for a personal PC. This was the birth of Ms-Dos. In 1987, he started pushing CD-ROMs, which turned out to be a good idea. The 1990s were crazy years for Microsoft. The company became a huge player and got huger and huger. As Microsoft became bigger and bigger the were able to use Predatory pricing to there advantage. That meant that they were able to slash their price so low no one could compete. Also Bill has a knack for getting PC companies to do things for Microsoft, such as putting windows on their computers or altering their program to make Microsoft work better that anything else. These side deals, predatory pricing and other questionable methods, ended up putting Microsoft under the microscope by the federal government. They decided in early 2000, that Microsoft needed to be split in two or have heavy regulations on them. Only time will tell what will happen to "the richest man in the world"� business.

J D Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 in Richford NY. His father was a con artist who peddled worthless items to people and had several bastards. In 1955, when J D was 16, on the 26th or September, he got a bookkeeping job that paid $.50 a day. He celebrated that day for many years. He was also a very religious person and refused to drink or smoke. J D's first business was in the oil refinery business. He and his partner Sam Andrews opened a refinery in Cleveland. In 1870 he formed Standard Oil, which was a public company. J D had a knack for getting other companies to sell to him or to go out of business. He made secret deals with railroads, the deals where that he would pay the normal price for transportation, but he would get a "rebate"�. For example if Joe Shmoe Refinery tried to ship a barrel of oil, it would cost them $2, but if Standard Oil shipped the same barrel they would pay the $2 and get $.70 back. As he became more powerful he was even able to demand that he receive rebates on his competitors shipping. Also he set up "blind tigers"�, which were smaller companies that were connected to Standard Oil but didn't have the name of it. By the time the smaller businesses realized it was Standard Oil trying to run them out of business it was too late. By 1978 Standard Oil had 90% of all the nation's oil refineries. In 1882, Standard Oil turned into a trust. A trust had a board of trusties and could get around some of the US laws. The trust led to the Sherman Anti-trust laws, which made monopolies illegal. Ida Tarbell was one of Rockefeller's biggest critics, she gad a grudge against him because she felt he had he father killed. In 1899 Standard Oil Trust was forced to dissolve. It was broken down into Mobile, Exxon, Pennzoil and others. It was during Rockefeller's retirement when you became a billionaire due to the stock he had in those companies. Also during his lifetime he gave money to many charities. The amount he donated has been estimated to be 850 million dollars.

Both of these men are or where exceptional businessman. I personal fell that the government has been or is being to hard on these companies. For example in the Microsoft Case the consumer is not be harmed by Microsoft being so large. In fact the largeness of Microsoft might be beneficial to consumers. The things that the government charged these companies are true but in my opinion not very important. The fact that Bill Gates has altered Microsoft windows to benefit seems to me to be good business, not some horrible thing. Also in the Microsoft case both parts will still have a monopoly. In the Standard Oil case the smaller companies still were very successful and there are really no enforcement if these companies still wanted to make secret deals. So in retrospect, the Government it wrong in breaking up these companies. I think they have a bigger problem with the person being so wealthy rather them with their business.


Bibliography
www.esrn.com/cirriculum/collections/biographys
www.ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/gates.mirick.html
The Movie- The Prize- Our Plan- Director William Cran
Encyclopedia of Worlf biography- Volume~GA pg. 232-234
Encyclopedia of Worlf biography- Volume~RO pg. 226-228