Morgan, Sr. must have turned in his grave in 1940 when the government
had its way—J.P. Morgan & Co., the banking entity, was incorporated and
transformed to a state-chartered bank. The exclusivity was gone forever with
16,500 shares floated to the public in the open market. Sadly enough, J.P.
Morgan, Jr. resorted to going public because of death and inheritance taxes
that threatened the firm’s capital as partners passed away. He reasoned that
“so much of the capital is in a few hands, and those hands are elderly.” J.P.,
Jr. was not happy with this move and slowly faded out of the picture. Private
banking in America was dead. Soon so was Jack.
Remaining slightly active and still a director of U.S. Steel among other companies,
Morgan turned to his yacht (the Corsair), his prize-winning tulips, and
his father’s library which was filled with rare manuscripts. But he succumbed
to heart attacks and a stroke and died in 1943 at 75, just three years after the
great private House of Morgan was turned into a public entity. Ironically, he
died at the same age as did his father before him. Once more, he couldn’t
outdo dad, but in his case just keeping up was plenty good enough.
Other useful articles:
- investment management
- first investments
- investing money
- money for investing
- bond investing
Post a Comment