The Mergers:GE | Northern Securities Co. | U.S. Steel Co.
1. General Electric (GE) - Inventor Thomas A. Edison had, up til 1900, created many electricity-related companies. J.P. Morgan took young Edison under his wing and let him use his NYC apartment as a lab. With backing from J.P. Morgan & Co.'s financial arm, Morgan merged Edison's main company, Edison Electric Co., with Thomson-Houston Electric Co. to create Edison General Electric Company, the fourth largest company in the world today. 2. Northern Securities Company (NSC) - J.P. Morgan headed a group of major financial associates interested in combining multiple railroad company into a single corporation. Morgan spearheaded the 1901 merger of the Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Northern Railway, and the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railway. This new railway trust was called the Northern Securities Company. The company assumed control of almost 100% of the Burlington Railroad's stock and there was a massive public outcry. The Northern Securities Company, though a juggernaut at the time, was one of the companies prosecuted and dissolved under the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1902.
3. U.S. Steel Company (USS) - When Andrew Carnegie reached his retirement, he thought of no better option than to sell his company. J.P. Morgan jumps at the opportunity and buys the Carnegie Steel Company for $480 million. Morgan then takes Carnegie's Steel Company and merges it with both Gary's Federal Steel Company and Moore's National Steel Company to form the steel corporation United States Steel in 1901. At the time,it became the first billion-dollar company and made 67% of all steel in the United States. Now, it is the 15th-largest steel producer in the world.
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