John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier and banker who dominated corporate finance throughout the Gilded Age. He spearheaded the formation of several prominent multinational corporations including U.S. Steel, International Harvester and General Electric. He and his partners also held controlling interests in numerous other American businesses including AT&T, Western Union and 24 railroads. Morgan died in Rome, Italy, in his sleep in 1913 at the age of 75.
About J. P. Morgan in brief
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier and banker who dominated corporate finance throughout the Gilded Age. He spearheaded the formation of several prominent multinational corporations including U.S. Steel, International Harvester and General Electric. He and his partners also held controlling interests in numerous other American businesses including AT&T, Western Union and 24 railroads. Morgan died in Rome, Italy, in his sleep in 1913 at the age of 75, leaving his fortune and business to his son, John Pier pont Morgan Jr. Biographer Ron Chernow estimated his fortune at USD 80 million, a net worth which allegedly prompted John D. Rockefeller to say: \”and to think, he wasn’t even a rich man.\” Morgan went into banking in 1857 at the London branch of merchant banking firm Peabody, Morgan & Co. In 1858, he moved to New York City to join the banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Company, the American representatives of George PeabODY and Company. From 1860 to 1864, he acted as agent in New York for his father’s firm, renamed J. S. Morgan & Company. After the death of Anthony J. Drexel, J. P. Morgan was re-christened at the request of his mentor, Junius Morgan, at the firm of J.P.Morgan & Company in 1895. By 1900, it was one of the most powerful banking houses in the world, drawing interest from investors that he drew from. He was often in charge of reorganizations and consolidations, but always remained firmly in charge.
He took over troubled business structures and reorganized their structures and management to return them to profitability, a process that became known as “Morganization” Morgan was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Junius Spencer Morgan and Juliet PierPont of the influential Morgan family. In the fall of 1848, he transferred to the Hartford Public School, then to the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut, where he boarded with the principal. In September 1851, he passed the entrance exam for The English High School of Boston, which specialized in mathematics for careers in commerce. After graduation, his father sent him to Bellerive, a school in the Swiss village of La Tour-de-Peilz, where he gained fluency in French. He attained passable fluency within six months, and a degree in art history; then traveled back to London via Wiesbaden, his formal education complete. During the American Civil War, in an incident known as the Hall Carbine Affair, Morgan financed the purchase of five thousand rifles from an army arsenal at USD 3. 50 each, which were then resold to a field general for USD 22 each. Morgan had avoided serving during the war by paying a substitute USD 300 to take his place. From 1864–72, he was a member of the law firm of Dabney, Morgan, and Co. In 1871, he partnered with the Drexels of Philadelphia.
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