34. The Supreme Court delivered the death blow to the Standard Oil Trust
In 1911, after years of litigation and warring in the press, which led to several re-organizations of the Standard Oil Companies, the United States Supreme Court declared Standard Oil of New Jersey to be contrary to the Sherman Antitrust Act. Standard Oil was broken up into more than thirty separate companies, many of which retained names recognizable today. Continental Oil became Conoco; Standard Oil of California was renamed Chevron. Socony (later Mobil) was the new name of Standard Oil of New York, and Esso was the name of the former Standard Oil of New Jersey. It later became Exxon, and later still ExxonMobil. Rockefeller held shares in all of the newly formed companies, in proportion to the shares he had held in Standard Oil Trust before its breakup, and as a result, his wealth increased exponentially.