Word: morgan
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...Morgan issued stocks and bonds for railroads (think of them as you would software companies today), brokered deals among them and dominated their boards. He recapitalized so many bankrupt railroads--Morganized them, as wits said--that by the 1890s he controlled one-sixth of America's railway system...
Like Rockefeller, Morgan scorned competition as wasteful and ran afoul of federal trustbusters who broke up his railroad holding company, Northern Securities, in the early 1900s. The apex of Morgan's power came in 1901 with the creation of U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation. This was followed by International Harvester, the farm-equipment trust, and the International Mercantile Marine, the North Atlantic shipping cartel. In fact, Morgan presided over so many large-scale industrial consolidations that he recast the banker's role from that of handmaiden to master of industry...
Between 1836 and 1914, the U.S. lacked a central bank; Morgan stepped boldly, sometimes magnificently, into that breach. When gold reserves backing the country's legal tender dipped perilously low in 1895, he masterminded a bond issue in New York and London that replenished the gold stock--one of many acts he performed that preserved America's credit abroad and evinced a new financial maturity that won the confidence of foreign investors...
During the 1907 Panic on Wall Street, an aging Morgan mobilized the city's bankers in his solemnly ornate library and got them to commit money to a rescue fund that ended the bank runs convulsing the city. It was the last hurrah for a self-regulated financial system: Morgan's dazzling improvisation proved the urgent need for a central bank, setting the stage for the passage of the Federal Reserve...
Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan were not the only robber barons, of course. Edward H. Harriman fought Morgan for control of the railroads. Andrew and Richard Mellon founded four major companies, including Alcoa. But the scale on which Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan operated was unprecedented, paving the way for a world of global companies and capital flows. And their money built a platform for philanthropy that has grown every bit as much as their corporations...