First billionaire

Oil Tycoon John D. Rockefeller's net worth topped 1 billion dollars in September 1916 making him the world's first billionaire. Rockefeller began his run in 1862 when he set up a new oil refining company called Standard Oil. By 1890, Rockefeller's company had a virtual lock on the U.S. oil refining market. This monopoly resulted in the breakup of Standard Oil by the Supreme Court in 1911.
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