In 1907, Royal Dutch Petroleum merged with Shell Transport & Trading to create a counterweight that could hold its own against John Rockefeller’s growing Standard Oil in the United States that was scaring the bejesus out of European businessmen because Rockefeller possessed an unbridled ambition and cunning ruthlessness to lower the price of kerosene and gasoline by 80% by underselling competitors with lower prices and engaging in transportation rebates that Standard Oil executives went to great lengths to keep secret.
At a time when gasoline and kerosene executives were respecting each other’s turfs and collecting nice profits for themselves so that they could go about life with nice houses, kids in the best schools, and generous philanthropic records, Rockefeller threatened the “everybody wins” business model that existed if you worked in upper management or above at an American or European energy or trading company. Rockefeller had a secret ambition that … Read the rest of this article!