The Infamous Jay Gould
Shortly after Gould left for Wall Street he made a modest profit by shorting railroad stocks in the panic of 1857.He had made a modest and profitable investment. He then went long in several railroads, shortly after the panic and his timing prooved to be extremely accurate.
In 1867 Daniel Drew, treasurer and longtime director of the Erie Railroad,
added Gould and James Fisk to the Erie board of directors. When Cornelius
Vanderbilt, of the New York Central, sought to buy control of the Erie a
spectacular battle ensued. Gould, Fisk, and Drew promptly issued thousands
of shares of new, watered stock. The "poison pill" of the time, although Gould may hav been as Erie as the canal, he did revolutionize financial tactics. When the angry Vanderbilt obtained an arrest warrant for the three, they ferried company headquarters to Jersey City, and Gould rushed to Albany where a pliable New York legislature authorized the stock issue. Eventually peace was made with Vanderbilt, but that gentleman was reported to have muttered that his trouble with the Erie "has learned me it never pays to kick a skunk." Later in the fall of 1869 Gould and Fisk conspired with the brother-in-law of President Ulysses S. Grant to corner the gold market, causing the panic of "Black Friday," September 24, 1869, and a tremendous margin call for Gould. He was even reported as telling his partners to buy as he was selling tremendous volumes of gold. After the crash his partners were left with nothing as Gould went long the market at the lowest levels.
Gould continued to loot the Erie until his departure in 1872. His role in the Erie War and the attempted gold corner gave him a reputation as the prime financial predator of the age.
Possessing a fortune, Gould turned to western railroads. In the
twenty years after 1872 he was a director of seventeen major lines
and the president of five. He purchased much Union Pacific stock and
controlled that road until 1878. At first Gould improved the management
of the Union Pacific but later blackmailed the company by threatening
to have the Gould-controlled Kansas Pacific build a nuisance line to Utah.
During the 1880s Gould controlled about half the mileage southwest of St.
Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt all had something in common, they were all “Robber Barons,” whose actions would eventually lead to the corruption, greed, and economic problems of Corporate America today. During the late 19th century, these men did all they could to monopolize the railroad, petroleum, banking, and steel industries, profiting massively and gaining a lot personally, but not doing a whole lot for the common wealth. Many of the schemes and techniques that are used today to rob people of what is rightfully theirs, such as pensions, stocks, and even their jobs, were invented and used often by these four men.
Finally, investors went into “panic mode” on October 24th, 1929, and began trading and dumping their shares, totaling a record of 12.9 million. Of course, following “Black Thursday,” the more well-known “Black Tuesday” ensued as a result of this. Between Black Monday and Black Tuesday, the market lost 24% of its value, and investors bought and traded over 28.9 million stocks. These stocks, now worthless, were used as firewood for some investor’s homes. The Dow Jones Company is perhaps the greatest example for this crash. Dow Jones started at 191 points at the beginning of 1928, then more than doubling to 381 points by September 1929. The crash caused their record 381 points to plummet to less than 41 p...
George M. Pullman is best remembered for his contributions to the railroad industry through the invention of his Pullman Cars. The cars sold well and the railroad industry flourished with this new invention. Although the success attached to his name, not many people know the real truth behind this robber baron. His greed for money took him to extreme measures as his workers were seriously mistreated and put under strict
Early 19th century, the American industrialist of the time we're gathering good fortunes through Carnegie's ideas and initiative. This man started out onto the road to wealth and success, starting from rags to the riches and earned the reputation he brought among himself bringing him into American history. For those who exploited others on the road to wealth were automatically labeled as “robber-barrons" i.e. John D Rockefeller. Nevertheless, those whose personal success positively impacted the United States, earning the title of the" captains of industry" surprisingly Andrew Carnegie happened to do both.
Nobody knew any better so Gould and Fisk took the idea and ran with it. There were no rules back then Mark Cuban said in the video whatever it took to take your opponent down you did it and thats what Fisk and Gould were trying to do to Vanderbilt. Not knowing what was happening to him Vanderbilt continually bought shares and did not realize he was being scammed and flooded. He bought 7 million dollars worth of watered down stock, according to the video. Gould and Fisk took it to the press so that everyone could know they defeated the Commodore in this battle. Vanderbilt realizes the railroads are being overbuilt so he looks into innovation instead of continuing to buy railroads he just improves the ones he owns which is the key resource, oil. Vanderbilt knew this would put him in complete control of all railroads. John D. Rockefeller became the man to be when he founded standard oil. Everybody wanted to negotiate with him but the main person Rockefeller wanted to do business with was Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt needed Rockefeller and vise-versa. Rockefeller filled all of Vanderbilts trains with his oils while Vanderbilt payed him for
Josh Bellamy has not been popular with Chicago Bears fans since he has entered the league.
During his time at the University of Florida, Tim Tebow was known as one of the greatest college football players ever. He won two National Championships and a Heisman trophy, which is the award given to the best player in college football. During this time period in college footbal,l players such as Reggie Bush and others were involved with investigations regarding illegal benefits being given to players by agents and boosters. Needless to say, Tim was never associated or involved in these investigations or crimes.
The craziness began on Black Monday with the market beginning to close, once Black Tuesday hit many stock investors were in a panic. In the early 1920’s, the American economic policy was laissez faire which led up to an uneven
It has been said that every good thing must arrive at an end. On account of the Roaring Twenties that end came suddenly and startlingly. It is simple for one to think back upon the monetary circumstance that prompt the accident and disparagement the specialists for not seeing the indications of a potential calamity. Be that as it may, it was not all that simple for them to see such an accident coming. The 1920 's were a blasting decade and stock costs appeared to be at an unfaltering move for an apparently interminable ascent. Numerous elements can be ascribed to the reason for the accident however nobody element can be singled out as the lone reason. The real reasons for the share trading system accident of 1929
On Thursday, October 24th, 1929, people began to sell their stocks as fast as they could. Sell orders flooded the market exchanges. (1929…) This day became known as Black Thursday. (Black Thursday…) On a normal day, only 750-800 members of the New York Stock Exchange started the exchange. (1929…) There were 1100 members on the floor for the morning opening. (1929…) Furthermore, the exchange directed all employees to be on the floor since there were numerous margin calls and sell orders placed overnight. Extra telephone staff was also arranged at the member’s boxes around the floor. (1929…) The Dow Jones Average closed at 299 that day. (1929…)
“Fifty percent profit in forty-five days!” was the claim of Charles Ponzi. Ponzi was a purported financial wizard. In the summer of 1920, he ran an “investment company” in Boston. He claimed to reap great profits by trading postal reply coupons. Nonetheless, the investment scheme was a fraud. Ponzi was using investors' money to pay off earlier investors, while keeping some for himself. In the end, he had collected $9,500,000 from 10,000 investors.
R.W. Sears Watch Company. In one year he made so much money that he was able to
In the book, “The Great Gatsby” a young adult looks for love and success. A wise man said, “Just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” Gatsby, made some money in the drug business, and some in the oil business. Furthermore, he sucked a bunch of his money out of the stock markets. Without a doubt, this man made tons of money.
Warren Buffet once said, “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago” (Buffett, Cunningham 51). During the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in history, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors, the Great Depression, Warren Buffet was buying and selling his first stocks. Amid the difficult times, Warren Buffett became one of the greatest investors ever and is regularly ranked among the wealthiest people in the world with a net-worth of 66.7 billion dollars (“History”).
1956 : Became the lead advisor on the Ford Motor Company's IPO, which was considered a major coup on Wall Street at that time.