John Rockefeller became world's 1st billionaire on this day
John Davison Rockefeller, industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of Standard Oil Company, became the world's first billionaire on this day in 1916. He founded Standard Oil in 1870, and bought up most of the oil refineries in the US, eventually controlling about 90% of the US oil production. Rockefeller's fortune at death was said to be worth $1.4 billion.