Who was the world's first billionaire? Hint- studied accounting for only 10 weeks

Elon Musk has become the world’s first billionaire after SpaceX’s initial public offering (IPO) boosted the value of his businesses and boosted his net worth to $1.11 trillion, according to the Bloomberg Rich List. While Musk is the richest person today, 10 decades ago John D Rockefeller became the world’s first billionaire in 1916.

Born in Richford, New York in 1839, Rockefeller became a billionaire through the success of the Standard Oil Company. As Forbes reports, his formal business training included a 10-week course in accounting.

He began his career as an assistant accountant before starting a commodity business in hay, grain, meat and other goods in 1859.

However, as the oil boom in neighboring Pennsylvania intensified, Rockefeller began to see more opportunities in the oil refining sector than in oil production itself. In 1863 he went into the oil refining business, but his success in this venture soon led him to form the Standard Oil Company in partnership with other men in 1870.

In no time, Rockefeller grew rapidly and soon established himself with the largest oil refinery in Cleveland.

By the age of 25, Rockefeller had become the richest man of his time, ruling a monopoly that refined up to 90 percent of American oil.

A breakup that made him richer

In 1911, the US Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordered the company broken up. The business was divided into 34 separate companies, including the parent company and 33 subsidiaries.

The move was designed to reduce Standard Oil’s dominance in the oil industry. However, it ended up increasing Rockefeller’s fortune.

Although Rockefeller stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the company years ago, he remained its largest shareholder. When Standard Oil was broken up, it did not lose its stake. Instead, he acquired shares in each of the newly independent companies in proportion to his original ownership.

Investors soon began to believe that individual companies were worth more individually than as a single giant monopoly facing regulatory pressure.

The property that changed financial history

In 1916, Standard Oil of New Jersey stock was trading at $567. According to calculations published by The New York Times, the combined value of the shares in the companies created after the break-up increased to $2,014, compared to the original share’s nominal value of $100.

The surge in stock prices pushed the estimated value of Rockefeller’s holdings above $1 billion. At the time, The New York Times reported that the stock market rally effectively made Rockefeller the world’s first billionaire.