John D. Rockefeller overpaid for Cincinnati's largest oil refinery even though he already owned the second-largest. That title alone let him claim market dominance and close over twenty deals in thirty days, consolidating the entire oil industry.
John Rockefeller, when he was early on in his oil empire, bid to buy the biggest oil refinery in Cincinnati, and he was the second biggest. He ended up overpaying for the business, and the business owner of the oil refinery laughed at him and kind of laughed his way to the bank. He's like, you completely overpaid for this thing. And so then what John D. Rockefeller did after he bought the first biggest and he already had the second biggest is that he then was able to say he was the biggest. And then in the next 30 days, he had over 20 deals in the next 30 days to consolidate the entire rest of the market because he became the gorilla.
