Bio and Industry

JP Morgan was a financier and banker who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. The son of a banker, Morgan went into the family business and became one of the most famous financiers in the history of business. After working for his father, he started his own private banking company in 1871, which later became known as J. P. Morgan & Co. His company became one of the leading financial firms in the country. 

At face value, Morgan contributed greatly to American industry. He invested in Thomas Edison and the Edison Electricity Company; helped to create General Electric and International Harvester; formed J.P. Morgan & Company. His expertise was purchasing small companies that were not profitable and improving their management and profitability. Morgan dominated two industries in particular—he helped consolidate the railroad industry in the East and formed the United States Steel Corporation in 1901. A crucial material in the extensive growth of the nation, U.S. Steel became the world's largest steel manufacturer, dominated for 100 years, and was the first billion dollar corporation.  At one point in his life, he was a board member of as many as 48 corporations. 

Workers & Competition

However, Morgan engaged in some unethical and anticompetitive practices to ward off competition. For example, he was believed to head a money trust that controlled the banking industry and was commonly considered a figurehead of Wall Street. He also created a monopoly by slashing the workforce and their pay to maximize profits while eliminating the competition. This process was known as "Morganisation".  Workers’ wages were often as low as a dollar a day or less, and conditions for employees were poor, with increased fatalities even as wages grew. More men were killed yearly in steel mills than died in the Battle of Gettysburg. 

Investing Money

When confronted with the possibility of regulations that could threaten his bottom line, he and other robber barons of the time contributed money to ensure that a business-friendly presidential candidate, William McKinley, was elected in 1896. In 1901, President McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz, a factory worker who lost his job in a JP Morgan takeover.

He was criticized for creating monopolies and making it difficult for any business to compete against his. The government, concerned about Morgan had created a monopoly, filed suit against the company in 1911.

Despite criticism, Morgan felt his investments benefited America. His railroad dealings helped consolidate many smaller, mismanaged firms, resulting in shorter trips and more dependable service. Also, his wealth was so vast that he was able to help bail out the federal government twice during an economic crisis, first in 1895 and again in 1907. This led to the creation of the Federal Reserve System. 

Philanthropy

At the turn of the century, Morgan was America’s greatest patron of the fine arts. He began collecting art while touring Rome. He was the driving force behind the rise of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, serving as president and donating extensively from his personal acquisitions. When he died he left behind a personal art collection to rival that of any king. His ornate library was built to house most of his works, which, thanks to the efforts of Jack Morgan, was unveiled to the public in the 1920s with the opening of the Morgan Library & Museum. Also, Morgan made donations to the American Museum of Natural History and the Episcopalian church in New York.

Morgan died in Rome, Italy, in his sleep in 1913 at the age of 75, leaving his fortune and business to his son, John Pierpont "Jack" Morgan, Jr., and bequeathing his mansion and large book collections to The Morgan Library & Museum in New York. At the time of his death, he only held an estate worth $68.3 million ($1.39 billion in today's dollars), of which about $30 million represented his share in the New York and Philadelphia banks. The value of his art collection was estimated at $50 million.