Standard Oil Company

"Phil Anschutz’s migration to fiber optics, a dynamic growth area of his era, has many historical parallels. John D. Rockefeller Sr. began his career as a commission agent dealing in produce, with no particular ex¬ pertise in the oil business. Breaking in was comparatively easy, however. The petroleum industry had just been born with Edwin Drake’s 1859 discovery and (no less important) successful extraction of oil in Ti¬ tusville, Pennsylvania. Rockefeller’s home base, Cleveland, was well situ¬ ated to become a refining center. It was as an investor in a start-up refinery that he began his ascent to monopolistic power through the Standard Oil Company."

"John D. Rockefeller Sr., a veteran of many negotiations in the course of creating Standard Oil Company, threw his counterparts off guard by speaking as little as necessary. He made it easier for independent refiners to sell out by not always driving for the lowest possible price, but he gen¬ erally bargained from a position of strength. They knew that if they did not sell, Standard Oil could use its power with crude oil producers and the railroads to prevent them from making a profit."