May 15, 1911: In a major antitrust ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of most of Standard Oil’s assets. While this broke up the so-called Standard Oil Trust, ownership remained with the original stockholders and corporate conglomeration soon resumed. As economist John Malcolm Blair points out, “Not long after the old Standard Oil ‘Trust’ had been broken up in 1911, the newly divided operating companies resumed their growth by merger. As early as 1921, Standard (Ind.) acquired a sizable rival, Midwest Refining, with assets of $85.9 million. Four years later, it absorbed an even larger company, Pan American Petroleum and Transportation, with assets of $179.5 million. In the same year, Standard of N.Y. (Mobil) acquired one of the nation’s largest independents, Magnolia Petroleum, with assets of $212.8 million, and in 1926 it purchased General Petroleum ($102 million) . . . These acquisitions formed an important part of the foundation on which the subsequent growth of the Standard companies was based.”
Recommended reading to learn more:
Citations: John M. Blair, The Control of Oil (New York: Pantheon Books, 1976), 127-128, https://archive.org/details/controlofoil0000blai;Scientific American Compiling Dep't, “Full HD portrait of 56-year-old John D. Rockefeller,” photograph (location unknown, 1895), public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_J._D._Rockefeller.jpg#/media/File:Portrait_of_J._D._Rockefeller.jpg.
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