Standard Oil Company

Standard Oil Co. Inc.

Former type	Cleveland, Ohio Corporation (1870–1882) Business Trust (1882–1892) New Jersey Holding Company (1899–1911)
Industry	Oil and gas
Successor	34 successor entities
Founded	1870
Defunct	The original Standard Oil Company corporate entity continues in existence and was the operating entity for Sohio; The Standard Oil Company was transformed into entities such as ESSO (phonetic spelling of SO), now Exxon; and SOcal, now Chevron
Headquarters	Cleveland, Ohio (1870–1885) New York City, New York (1885–1911)
Key people	John D. Rockefeller, Founder & Chairman Stephen V. Harkness, initial investor Henry M. Flagler, Senior Executive John H. Swearingen, President John D. Archbold, Vice President William Rockefeller, Senior Executive & New York Representative Samuel Andrews, Chemist & First Chief of Refining Operations Charles Pratt, Senior Executive Henry H. Rogers, Senior Executive Oliver H. Payne, Senior Executive Joseph E. Edens, initial investor Daniel O'Day, Senior Executive Jabez A. Bostwick, Senior Executive & First Treasurer William G. Warden, Senior Executive Jacob Vandergrift, Senior Executive
Products	Fuel, Lubricant, Petrochemicals
Number of employees	60,000 (1909)

Standard Oil Co. Inc. was an American oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world of its time. Its controversial history as one of the world's first and largest multinational corporations ended in 1911, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly.

Standard Oil dominated the oil products market initially through horizontal integration in the refining sector, then, in later years vertical integration; the company was an innovator in the development of the business trust. The Standard Oil trust streamlined production and logistics, lowered costs, and undercut competitors. "Trust-busting" critics accused Standard Oil of using aggressive pricing to destroy competitors and form a monopoly that threatened other businesses.

John D. Rockefeller was a founder, chairman and major shareholder. With the dissolution of the Standard Oil trust into 34 smaller companies, Rockefeller became the richest man in the world, as the initial income of these individual enterprises proved to be much bigger than that of a single larger company. Its successors such as ExxonMobil, BP, and Chevron are still counted among the companies with the largest income worldwide. By 1882, his top aide was John Dustin Archbold. After 1896, Rockefeller disengaged from business to concentrate on his philanthropy, leaving Archbold in control. Other notable Standard Oil principals include Henry Flagler, developer of the Florida East Coast Railway and resort cities, and Henry H. Rogers, who built the Virginian Railway.