What do Bill Gates, Henry Ford, J. P. Morgan, Mary Kay Ash, and Walt Disney all have in common? Uncompromising vision, a willingness to take risks, and exceptional business acumen. Not only did these individuals amass great fortunes, they revolutionized the business world and helped shape society as we know it. Theirs are just a few of the stories collected in this anthology of commercial ingenuity. Drawing on a wealth of sources, this priceless collection brings to life extraordinary achievements, many of them forgotten or little known: how Robert Morris, the preeminent merchant of the eighteenth century, financed the American Revolution with his personal credit; how Ray Kroc used a shrewd real estate strategy to turn a faltering hamburger franchise operation into the McDonald's fast food empire; and how Mary Kay Ash built a billion-dollar direct sales cosmetics company by preaching a message of economic empowerment to women. Enlightening and fascinating, Forbes(r) Greatest Business Stories of All Time celebrates larger-than-life ambition, inspired leadership, wheeling and dealing, and hard work. Forbes is a registered trademark of Forbes Inc. Its use is pursuant to a license agreement with Forbes Inc.
DANIEL GROSS is a Harvard-trained historian and journalist.
Acknowledgments vForeword by Timothy C. Forbes 1Robert Morris: America's First Financier 4Cyrus McCormick's Reaper and the Industrialization of Farming 22John D. Rockefeller and the Modern Corporation 40J. P. Morgan Saves the Country 58Henry Ford and the Model T 74Charles Merrill and the Democratization of Stock Ownership 90David Sarnoff, RCA, and the Rise of Broadcasting 106Walt Disney and his Family-Entertainment Empire 122John H. Johnson: Finding the Black Consumer 142David Ogilvy and the Creation of Modern Advertising 158Ray Kroc, McDonald's, and the Fast-Food Industry 176Betting the Company: Joseph Wilson and the Xerox 914 194American Express and the Charge Card 212Mary Kay Ash and her Corporate Culture for Women 232Intel's Microprocessor and the Computer Revolution 246Sam Walton, Wal-Mart, and the Discounting of America 266William McGowan and MCI: A New World of Telecommunications 284The Turnaround at Harley-Davidson 298Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and the Leveraged Buyout 314William Gates and the Dominance of Microsoft 334Notes on Sources 352Index 358