Ever since an early age, Andrew Carnegie worked for money. As a messenger for the Ohio Telegraph Company, he made $2.50 a week ($75 in today's money) and made many connections along the way. During the Civil War, Carnegie was appointed to be Superintendent of Military Railways and the Union Government's telegraph. After the Battle of Bull Run, Carnegie personally oversaw the return of the defeated troops to the Union.
Carnegie invested in the Columbia Oil Company in 1864, and just a year later the company made over $1,000,000 in dividends. After a couple of years, Carnegie formed his own company, which acquired paperwork from the Keystone Bridge Company. He requested that the maximum income he will make per year would be $50,000, as he wanted to use money to better others, not himself. He said that "no idol is more debasing than the worship of money!", showing just how much he wanted to give it away.
Later, Carnegie founded Carnegie Steel, the company that would make him his fortune. He found a way to burn steel rapidly and efficiently, and it went on to be used in every railroad. Carnegie eventually, secretly, made a merger for his company and others to create the United States Steel Corporation, the first company to pass the $1,000,000,000 market cap (today there are two companies over $1 trillion). Carnegie's share of the deal amounted to $225 million, or $7 billion today.
In his later life, Carnegie used his money as a philanthropist; he reformed spelling in the English language, built thousands of libraries, and donated to universities. At the time of his death, Carnegie had donated over $78 billion, making his donations worth more than every person but three in the world today.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie
https://www.npr.org/2013/08/01/207272849/how-andrew-carnegie-turned-his-fortune-into-a-library-legacy
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andrew-Carnegie
Wow those are some mind blowing statistics there. It is nice to see that not all of these rich corporate leaders were interested in only themselves. It appears that Carnegie was the opposite and was concerned with the welfare of other citizens. It is crazy to think that Carnegie went from working for a meager wage to becoming one of the richest men in America. This reflects the American dream of hard work equals success.
ReplyDeleteI found this post extremely fascinating because it showed how rich people have the power to help out society in so many dramatic ways. Andrew Carnegie set a good example of that, and this blog shows that Carnegie was a man who started off poor but helped the poor as he rose to the elite class of society.
ReplyDeleteHi Tom,
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting how Carnegie was able to work his way up to having a huge, successful business, making him a billionaire. To become so successful in the steel market with the Carnegie Steel Company, he used a business practice where his company controlled all parts of the production process. This practice is called vertical integration. It allowed him to cut costs, as he didn't have to rely on multiple companies to produce different parts of his product.
https://strategiccfo.com/vertical-integration/
It gives me a lot of faith that someone so removed from the average man's society was still able to care about the people, and a future that they wouldn't be around to see. I wonder how big of an impact the super rich nowadays have in comparison to Carnegie. A large part of it may be because Carnegie came from close to nothing, so he understood and could sympathize with the people who needed help.
ReplyDelete