From Standard Oil's 1870 founding by John D. Rockefeller to its 1911 breakup and the eventual $73.7 billion reunion of Exxon and Mobil in 1999, discover the epic corporate saga behind one of the world's energy giants.

The very strategies that allow a company to dominate a market often create the conditions that eventually lead to their downfall—whether through government intervention, technological disruption, or new competition.
Criado por ex-alunos da Universidade de Columbia em San Francisco
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Criado por ex-alunos da Universidade de Columbia em San Francisco

Lena: Hey Miles, I was filling up my car yesterday and found myself staring at that familiar Exxon logo, and I realized I know almost nothing about how this massive company came to be. It's such a fixture in our lives, but where did it all start?
Miles: That's a great question, Lena. What's fascinating is that ExxonMobil's story begins with one of the most famous business figures in American history—John D. Rockefeller. Back in 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company in Ohio with a pretty straightforward goal: bringing reliable quality and consistent service to what was then a chaotic, emerging oil industry.
Lena: Wait, Standard Oil? So ExxonMobil used to be called something completely different?
Miles: Exactly! And what's remarkable is how dominant Standard Oil became. By 1904, it controlled an astounding 91% of oil refinement and 85% of final oil sales in the United States. But that incredible market power eventually led to its downfall when the Supreme Court ordered it broken up in 1911.
Lena: So the government basically shattered this oil giant into pieces. How did we get from that breakup to the ExxonMobil we know today?
Miles: That's where the story gets really interesting. The breakup created multiple "baby Standards," including Standard Oil of New Jersey, which eventually became Exxon, and Standard Oil of New York, which became Mobil. These companies operated separately for decades until they reunited in a massive $73.7 billion merger in 1999. Let's explore how this corporate saga unfolded across more than a century of American business history.