How did John D. Rockefeller use trusts to avoid Ohio laws against horizontal integration?
1 Answer
By creating a trust John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil 'Trust' was able to maintain shareholdings in other companies after Ohio's laws against horizontal integration came into effect.
Explanation:
The original bad player in the trust business was the Standard Oil Trust, set up in 1882 by John D Rockefeller to hold the assets of his company the Standard Oil Company of Ohio. It eventually came to hold all of the Standard Oil businesses. This would not have been possible had Standard Oil remained a corporation because in an attempt to control monopolies, states such as Ohio had restricted the ability of one company to own the shares of another.
In return for their shares, stockholders in the Standard Oil Company received certificates in the Standard Oil Trust, entitling them to a percentage of earnings of the conglomerate.
I hope this little explanation is helpful :)
