John Jacob Astor success story

He was at one time the wealthiest man in the United States. An immigrant son of a German butcher who landed in New York and lived the tags to riches story that we all love to read about.

Business and Value creation

• He opened a fur shop and sold musical instruments. Astor later saw opportunity in importing furs from Canad, which was the center of the fur trade.
• He grew the business and got exponential growth through a partnership with a Canadian venture called the Northwest company.
• John Jacob Astor ventured to do business with China at a time when there wasn’t a strong western demand for Chinese products.
• He exported furs to China and imported Chinese silk and tea.

Astor’s American fur company grew to become the country’s leading fur company.

Investments

Money was coming in so quickly for Astor that he invested heavily in real estate.

After the war he came into a windfall of both financial and political proportions partly by bailing an almost bankrupt US government by negotiating a loan.

Lesson

It is said that John Jacob Astor had the first US monopoly.

1. He stuck to a business he understood and grew the American Fur company into the leading fur company in the world.

2. When he saw an opportunity in China at a time when the West shunned business with then Chinese, he capitalized on this and made a lot of money.

3. One historical report says Astor invested in such extensive real estate holdings because he didn’t like high risk investments he didn’t know how to grow. The lesson here is to stick to your area of competence till you increase it.

4. When he saw an opportunity for the US government to be beholden to him, he took it. I can only imagine how well this served him in his later years.

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