What the company or idea is
Standard Oil was a vertically integrated oil refining company founded in 1870, headquartered at 26 Broadway in New York City.
How it actually makes money
Standard Oil made money by refining crude oil into kerosene and gasoline, then controlling distribution through vertical integration, bulk transport deals, and preferential railroad rates.
What works
Its cost-cutting innovations and distribution expansion worked. By 1900 it controlled about 90% of U.S. oil production.
What does not
It did not sustain its dominance after 1911. Its legal dismantling was definitive, not symbolic. The antitrust ruling directly ended its unified control.
What to take from it
Monopoly power can be built using corporate structure and regulatory gaps—not just technology—and can be undone by judicial action, but only after decades of entrenched advantage.
Is it worth your time
Yes—if you are studying how legal frameworks enable or constrain monopoly formation, or how dissolution creates new capital structures without altering market power.
