In this article we are going to list the 5 most famous monopolies of all time. For a detailed coverage of this topic and a more comprehensive list please take a look at the 12 most famous monopolies of all time.
5. AB InBev (BUD)
The Belgian beer giant was the biggest beer company in the world, even before Inbev acquired Anheuser-Busch from the United States, and holds more than a fifth of the total global beer market share. Even though it hasn’t been declared a monopoly by law, it is often cited as one due to its hold on the market, with 630 brands and operations in 150 countries allowing it to become the biggest beer company in the world.
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4. American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was established in 1890, and started to grow massively in just a few years, mainly by acquiring its competition, which includes its biggest competitor in Lucky Strike. After it acquired more than 200 other companies, anti trust action against the company began in 1907, just 17 years after the founding of the company and ended in 1911, resulting in the breakup of the massive group. Currently, two of the biggest companies in the cigarette industry are British American Tobacco and Phillip Morris International (NYSE:PM), though neither are close to being as big as American Tobacco was in its heyday.
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3. AT&T
AT&T is the biggest telecommunication company in the world right now, and that is after being broken up by the Supreme Court. Even today, it is the biggest provider of mobile phone and fixed phone services in the United States. AT&T was a subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company, which was founded by Alexander Graham Bell. However, the company grew to such a significant size that in 1982, there was a United States v AT&T antitrust lawsuit, which resulted in the breakup of the company into smaller parts, including the divesture of what were known as ‘Baby Bells’, which became independent companies. The current AT&T is made up of 10 out of the original 22 Bell Operating Companies.
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2. Andrew Carnegie’s Steel Company
It is now known as the US Steel Company (NYSE:X) and is the reason behind Andrew Carnegie being the second richest person in history after only J.D. Rockefeller. When his Carnegie Steel Company merged with the Federal Steel Company and the National Steel Company, this resulted in the formation of a major monopoly which in turn became the largest producer of steel in the entire world and absolutely dominated the US steel industry. In fact, it became the first billion dollar company in the entire world, when it was valued at $1.4 billion. A billion dollar corporation is not a big deal in today’s world, but more than a century ago, this was a huge deal. In 1911, the government tried to break the company based on anti-trust laws, but failed initially. It even produced around 60% of the total steel production in the US at the time, though this fell to just 6% in 2001.
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1. Standard Oil Company
Topping the list of the 12 most famous monopolies of all time is of course, Standard Oil Company by J.D. Rockefeller. The company was involved in the production, transportation, refining and marketing of oil which came into existence in 1870. When it was in existence, it was the largest oil refining company in the world and was also the biggest company in the entire world until its existence came to an abrupt end in 1911, when it was finally broken up by the Supreme Court.
Initially, the company started to become a monopoly through horizontal integration, before engaging in vertical integration and engaging in domination that has been more or less unparalleled since. It was also a pioneer in establishing a trust, which allowed it to lower costs, under cut its competitors and allowed the streamlining of logistics as well as production. Rockefeller became one of the richest people in the world when the Supreme Court broke the company into 34 companies, and is considered to be the richest man in modern history, adjusted for inflation. Just to understand the absolute behemoth that Standard Oil was, some of its 34 successors are still among the biggest oil companies in the world, including Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX).
See also: 15 largest oil companies in the world and 15 largest energy companies in the world
