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Billionaires Club

The Billionaire (by Gorky, Maxim)
A Study of John D. Rockefeller : The Wea... (by Marcus Monroe Brown)
Random Reminiscences of Men and Events (by Rockefeller, John D.)
John Jacob Astor (by Hubbard, Elbert)

Countless book, movie, and song titles include the word “billionaire,” which ushers in a sense of prestige, power, and glamour. From the literary world, there’s The Billionaire by Maxim Corky and innumerable romance novel titles. In film, there’s Billionaire Ransom and The Billionaire & the Movie Star, and from the music industry, there’s Travie McCoy’s catchy “Billionaire” song.

The idea of vast wealth consumes many cultures, specifically Western ones. Every year, Forbes releases its “The World’s Billionaires” list of those who possess assets worth at least a billion U.S. dollars (or other units of currency). The top spots for 2018 include Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Bill Gates of Microsoft, and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway. (The list is a “Real Time Ranking” and is updated at 5:00 p.m. EST on the last trading day.)

There are 2,473 billionaires worldwide. It comes as no surprise that the United States—a nation that values competition, free enterprise, and materialism—boasts the most billionaires. Its 585 billionaires collectively hold $2.466 trillion in total wealth. China ranks next with 260 billionaires, and then Germany with 130 (Wealth-X).

Quite a few Americans already achieved the billionaire status long before Forbes began ranking the wealthiest Americans in 1982. Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller was the first to claim the title of the world’s first confirmed billionaire (in U.S. dollars). After building his first oil refinery, Rockefeller incorporated the Standard Oil Company in 1870. Criticized for being the world’s first and largest multinational corporation, the United States Supreme Court later ruled that it was an illegal monopoly. In A Study of John D. Rockefeller, Marcus Monroe Brown writes: “Mr. Rockefeller has never completed his education. To this day he is a pupil, a learner, an inquirer, a seeker after knowledge” (p 56).

For more on Rockefeller, watch Random Reminiscences of Men and Events.

German-American businessman John Jacob Astor earned the title of America’s first multi-millionaire. Fur trade and real estate formed the foundation of his vast wealth. In John Jacob Astor, Elbert Hubbard includes a passage in the foreword. He writes:

The man who makes it the habit of his life to go to bed at nine o’clock, usually gets rich and is always reliable. Of course, going to bed does not make him rich—I merely mean that such a man will in all probability be up early in the morning and do a big day’s work, so his weary bones put him to bed early. Rogues do their work at night. Honest men work by day. It’s all a matter of habit, and good habits in America make any man rich. Wealth is a result of habit.

Rockefeller and Astor are prominent names associated with wealth, but there are less known entrepreneurs, such as African-American businesswoman Madam C. J. Walker who also achieved vast wealth. Motivated by her own skin afflictions, Walker created a beauty and hair company that catered to the specific needs of African American women. She became the first female self-made millionaire in the United States.

By Regina Molaro