John D. Rockefeller was the first billionaire in history, thanks to his role as founder of the oil company Standard Oil in 1870. Through the profits provided by the company, Rockefeller became the richest person in the world, obtaining profits that were equivalent to 2% of the GDP of the United States of America of that time.
Through its expansionist trade policies, and the merger or purchase of its competitors, Standard Oil became the first commercial monopoly of the modern era, controlling practically the entire fuel business in the United States, until in 1911 the Sherman Act ordered its dissolution.
