39. Rockefeller made his fortune before the automobile created the demand for gasoline
Rockefeller retired from business before the great boom in gasoline and motor oil which was created by the automobile, and then aviation engines. Nonetheless, he retained large shares of stock in all of the Standard Oil companies which emerged following the government ordered breakup of his monopoly, and the profits from these continued to increase his wealth for the rest of his life, and the value of his estate beyond. At one time in the United States, it was widely believed that if a gas station’s logo contained the colors of red, white, and blue, it was spawned by Standard Oil. His many innovations in the arrangement of business relationships to the movement of products to market are usually forgotten, dimmed out by the bright light of the fortune he built, often through means which in a later day became questionable as regards their ethics.
