Home › Business & Labor

Business & Labor

Founders and financiers on one side, organizers and union leaders on the other — and the fights between them.

15 people

J. P. Morgan 1837–1913Business, Finance & IndustryBanking titan who stabilized the economy during the Panic of 1907 and shaped modern finance.Cornelius Vanderbilt 1794–1877Business, Finance & IndustryShipping and railroad magnate whose empire made him one of the wealthiest Americans in history.George Soros b. 1930Business, Finance & IndustryInvestor and founder of the Open Society Foundations, supporting democracy and human rights worldwide.Andrew W. Mellon 1855–1937Business, Finance & IndustryBanker and art collector whose foundation built the National Gallery of Art.Michael Milken b. 1946Business, Finance & IndustryFinancier who built the modern high-yield bond market at Drexel Burnham Lambert, pleaded guilty to six securities and tax felonies in 1990, and later funded medical research and an economic think tank.John Jacob Astor 1763–1848Business, Finance & IndustryAmerica's first multimillionaire, made in furs, the China trade and Manhattan landCarl Icahn b. 1936Business, Finance & IndustryCorporate raider and activist investorJamie Dimon b. 1956Business, Finance & IndustryBank executive whose leadership of JPMorgan Chase made him one of the most influential voices in American finance.Jay Gould 1836–1892Business, Finance & IndustryControlled major railroad and telegraph systems through aggressive stock manipulation.James J. Hill 1838–1916Business, Finance & IndustryBuilt the Great Northern Railway without federal land grants and shaped northern plains settlement.David Rockefeller 1915–2017Business, Finance & IndustryBanker and philanthropist who directed the Rockefeller Foundation's global development efforts.IBIvan Boesky 1937–2024Business, Finance & IndustryThe 1980s insider trading scandal and the cooperation that brought down Michael MilkenAmadeo Giannini 1870–1949Business, Finance & IndustryFounded Bank of Italy and grew it into Bank of America by lending to ordinary depositors.Charles Schwab b. 1937Business, Finance & IndustryFounder of the discount brokerage that democratized stock trading for ordinary investors.Stephen Schwarzman b. 1947Business, Finance & IndustryCo-founder of Blackstone, the world's largest alternative investment firm.