23. The creation of the Standard Oil Trust in 1882
Unlike today, during the late 19th century many states had laws which made it illegal for a company incorporated in another state to operate in their jurisdiction. This meant that Standard Oil operated as a collection of dozens of corporations across several states, a managerial nightmare. To correct this management deficiency, in 1882 Rockefeller created what was in essence a corporation created out of several corporations, and which was named Standard Oil Trust. Forty-one individual corporations formed the Trust, which was managed by a board of trustees consisting of nine members, one of whom was John D. Rockefeller. The result was that Standard Oil was the largest and richest business entity in the world, which encouraged its enemies to redouble their efforts to depict Rockefeller as the ultimate of the robber barons.