$80,000,000
John Pierpont Morgan Sr.
Net Worth
Born in (City)
Hartford
Born in (Country)
United States
Date of Birth
17th December, 1837
Date of Death
31st December, 1913
Mother
Juliet Pierpont
Father
Junius Spenser Morgan
Children
- Louisa Pierpont Morgan
- J.P Morgan Jr.
- Juliet Pierpont Morgan
- Anne Tracy Morgan
About
The global society is familiar with the name of J.P. Morgan and Co, but very few know the man behind it. An American financier and banker, John Pierpont Morgan Sr. dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and became the driving force behind the wave of industrial consolidation in the United States in the late 19th century. He was, also, the head of the banking firm that ultimately came to be known as J.P. Morgan and Co.
As the leading financier of the Progressive Era, J.P. Morgan’s dedication to modernization and efficacy, transformed the shape of the American economy in its entirety. Adrian Wooldridge attributed Morgan as the nation’s "greatest banker". In 1913, at the age of 75, Morgan passed away in his sleep in Rome, Italy, leaving his financial belongings to his son. John Ron Chernow, biographer to Pierpont Morgan Jr., estimated his net worth at around $80 million.
Early Life
Born to Junius Spencer Morgan (1813–1890) and Juliet Pierpont (1816–1884) of the influential Morgan family, the financial genius was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. Pierpont, his preferred identity, had a touring education. In the fall of 1848, he was transferred to the Hartford Public School from where he was shifted to the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut (now Cheshire Academy). Here, he boarded with the principal of the school. In September 1851, he cleared the entrance exam for The English High School of Boston, which was reputed in mathematics for careers in commerce. In April 1852, Morgan was struck with Rheumatic fever which left him incapable of walking- a disease that stuck with him forever. His father sent him to the Azores for his treatment and recovery.
After almost a year, he returned to Boston to resume his education. After graduating, he was sent to Bellerive, a school in the village of La Tour-de-Pilz, Switzerland. Here he gained expertise in French. He was, then, moved to the University of Göttingen to work on his German skills. He attained fluency within six months, along with a degree in art history. Finally, he traveled to Wiesbaden and then, London.
Road to Success
With his formal education now complete, Morgan Sr. entered the banking sector in 1857. He started his career at the London branch of his father’s merchant banking firm Peabody, Morgan & Co., founded three years earlier along with his partner, George Peabody. In the year 1858, he moved to New York City to join Duncan, Sherman & Company, the American counterparts of George Peabody and Company. During the American Civil War, Morgan sponsored the purchase of five thousand rifles from an army man at the rate of $3.50 each, only to be resold to a field general for $22 each, an incident which later came to be known as the Hall Cabinet Affair. Morgan avoided the calls of national duty during the war and instead paid $300 to a substitute to take his place. Upon Peabody’s retirement in 1864, his father’s firm was renamed "J.S. Morgan & Co.". He acted as its agent in New York from 1860-64 and from 1864–72, he became a member of the firm of Dabney, Morgan, and Company. In 1871, he collaborated with the Drexels of Philadelphia to form the Drexel, Morgan & Company in New York. At that time, Anthony J. Drexel was requested to be Pierpont’s mentor, by his father; he agreed. After Anthony Drexel passed away, the firm was renamed in 1895 as J. P. Morgan & Company, still maintaining the erstwhile close ties with Drexel & Company of Philadelphia; Paris’s Morgan, Harjes & Company; and J.S. Morgan & Company (after 1910 Morgan, Grenfell & Company) of London. By 1900, within a few years, it went on to be one of the world’s most powerful banking houses, with its primary focus on reorganizations and consolidations.
Morgan had always liked to be in charge, even though he had many partners over the years, such as George W. Perkins. He used to take over troubled businesses and return them to their profitability by merely reorganizing the working structures and management- "Morganization" as it was dearly called. His reputation as a finance personality spread all over the world and influenced investors to work on the businesses that he took over.
In the decade of 1900, the inventor Nikola Tesla came up with the idea of the trans-Atlantic wireless communication system (eventually sited at Wardenclyffe) that was meant to outperform the short-range radio wave-based wireless telegraph system then being demonstrated by Guglielmo Marconi. He persuaded Morgan to finance it. The agreement was settled according to the terms that Morgan would provide Tesla with $150,000 (equivalent to $4,609,800 in 2019) in return for a 51% control of the patents of the system. Immediately as the contract was signed Tesla decided to improvise on the plan to include his ideas of terrestrial wireless power transmission to make it a more competitive system. Morgan considered Tesla’s changes as a breach of contract and refused the advances for an increment in the amount of capital to build it. With no additional investment capital available, The project at Wardenclyffe had to be abandoned in 1906 due to lack of additional investment capital.
His career on Wall Street was a glorious one where Morgan advocated and led to the formation of several prominent global corporations including U.S. Steel, International Harvester and General Electric, etc. Along with his partners, he also held interests in controlling numerous other American businesses like AT&T, Western Union, and 24 railroads. His unimaginable financial dominance gifted him the capability to hold influence over the nation’s lawmakers and finances. During the Panic of 1907, a coalition of financiers under his guidance saved the American economy from collapse.
Challenges
In April 1852, Morgan was struck with Rheumatic fever which left him incapable of walking- a disease that stuck with him forever. His father sent him to the Azores for his treatment and recovery.
Failures
In one of the rarest cases, Morgan faced defeat in his banking career when in 1902, his attempted entry into the London Underground field backfired. Charles Tyson Yerkes failed Morgan’s tries to obtain parliamentary unanimity to construct the Piccadilly, City, and North East London Railway. It was a subway line that would have competed with the "Tube" lines, managed by Yerkes’ company. Morgan has always recalled Yerkes’ coup as "the greatest rascality and conspiracy I ever heard of".
Quotes
- The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.
- Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you