Regulating Oligopolies

Dominating Companies
One true event in the history of the United States is the Standard Oil Company, directed by John D. Rockefeller. John D. Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Rockefeller transformed the oil industry and defined the makeup of modern philanthropy. In 1870, Rockefeller established the Standard Oil Company and ran it until he retired in the late 1890s. He reserved his stock and as gasoline rose in weight, his capital ascended and he became the world's richest man and first billionaire. Rockefeller is often looked upon as the richest human being of all times.

Standard Oil Company dominated an oligopolist industry. It controlled around ninety percent of the petroleum that was sold in the United States and this company was able to do as they pleased. If a competitor did not do as the company wanted, they would send the competitor to bankruptcy by reducing their prices down to a ridiculously small amount and obviously the competitor could not compete with this.

This caused Standard Oil Company to lose money sometimes, but as soon as the competitors went bankrupt, they were able to convince the other companies to help restrict production and obtain fabulous benefits. Since Standard Oil Company had so much control; their industry seemed more like a monopoly rather then an oligopoly.

However, the effectiveness of Rockefeller soon caused a response from the government. Standard Oil Company was fractioned in to dozens of independent smaller companies, none of which were big and strong enough to control the industry and cause collusion, as had been done with Standard Oil Company.