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From Wondry, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal.

The

Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller died more than 80 years ago, but he still holds the crown as the richest person in modern history.

He started building his fortune young.

In 1859, shortly before his 20th birthday, Rockefeller set off on his first business venture.

He acted as a middleman for the sale of staples like meat and grain in Cleveland, Ohio.

And by the end of his first year, his firm did more than $450,000 worth of business, the equivalent of about $14 million today.

Rockefeller's pension for bookkeeping and his aversion to risk would serve him well as he transitioned from everyday goods to crude oil.

He became a part owner in a new refinery and in just two years Rockefeller bought out his partners.

Over the next decade, he would expand his business and bring all aspects of the oil refining process in-house from the well to the barrels.

Rockefeller also negotiated large rebates with the railroad companies.

Those rebates helped him ship his products for less and squeeze out competition.

Rockefeller named his enterprise Standard Oil, and by 1879 the conglomerate was responsible for 90% of all oil refining in the United States.

It dominated American markets and across the country everyday consumers lit their lamps with standard care scene.

But for all his business acumen, not everybody would applaud Rockefeller's corporate conquest.

As competitors folded, journalist sharpened their attacks on his monopoly and a new antitrust law would empower the courts to break up his empire.

In the end Rockefeller's life is an American success story as much as it is a cautionary tale of unchecked capitalism.

To theme as relevant now as it was then.

My guest today is Chris Sagers. He's a professor of law at Cleveland State University and now a senior fellow for the American Antitrust Institute.

We'll talk about the business climate that allowed Rockefeller to prosper and how a century old law is finding a new meaning in the digital age.

Here's our conversation.

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