The most brutal businessman in the history.

Hey friend,

Imagine being so rich that you literally own more money than your entire government has in its treasury. Not a fraction of it - more than all of it combined.

That was Cornelius Vanderbilt when he died in 1877. This guy dropped out of school at 11, started with a $100 loan from his mom, and built an empire so massive that he controlled roughly one-ninth of all American currency in circulation.

But here’s the thing - he was also called the most brutal businessman in American history. People feared him. Competitors dreaded him. And his own family couldn’t stand him.

Today I’m telling you how Cornelius Vanderbilt became insanely rich, the ruthless tactics he used, and why his story is both inspiring and disturbing at the same time.

The Kid Who Cleared a Rocky Field

Cornelius was born in 1794 to a family that had arrived in America as servants. They weren’t wealthy or connected - they were working class people trying to survive.

At age 11, Cornelius dropped out of school and started working on his father’s ferry in New York Harbour. He learned the business of transporting goods and people across the river.

By 16, Cornelius wanted to start his own ferry service. He needed a boat, and his mother had saved $100 that she was willing to loan him. But there was a catch.

His mom owned a field that was so rocky she couldn’t farm it. If Cornelius wanted the money, he had to clear that entire field of rocks first.

Now, most teenagers would’ve given up. But Cornelius had something special - an absolutely relentless work ethic combined with clever thinking.

He convinced other local kids to help him clear the field by promising them free rides on his future boat. Together they got the job done.

His mother gave him the $100. Cornelius bought his first boat at 16 and started his ferry business.

 The Strategy That Built an Empire

Here’s where Cornelius showed his business genius. He had one simple strategy that he used over and over again: undercut everyone.

He’d offer the cheapest fares on the market - so cheap that competitors couldn’t match his prices without losing money. Customers flocked to his boats because they were reliable and affordable.

But here’s the brilliant part: after paying back his mother’s loan, Cornelius reinvested every single penny of profit back into the business. He bought another boat. Then another. Then another.

This is the blueprint that countless billionaires have followed since - live frugally, reinvest everything into growth, repeat until you dominate the market.

People started calling him “The Commodore” because he had an entire fleet of ships.

Then came the War of 1812, and the American government gave Cornelius a lucrative contract to transport soldiers. This accelerated his growth even faster.

The Ruthless Tactics Begin

As Cornelius got bigger, his tactics got more aggressive. He didn’t just want to compete - he wanted to destroy the competition completely.

His strategy was simple but brutal: offer prices so low that you lose money on every trip, but keep doing it until your competitors go bankrupt. Once they’re gone, raise your prices back up.

At one point, Cornelius started offering some boat trips completely free. He didn’t care that he was losing money because he knew something important - he had deeper pockets than his competitors.

This tactic bankrupted several boat owners. But Cornelius wasn’t satisfied with just putting them out of business - he’d then buy their companies at bargain prices after they collapsed.

Some larger steamboat companies realized they couldn’t compete with him, so they just paid Cornelius money to leave their territory. One company paid him $100,000 to stop operating in their area because it was cheaper than trying to compete.

Every time Cornelius got paid off or bought a competitor, his fleet grew bigger and his power increased.

The California Gold Rush Jackpot

In 1849, gold was discovered in California, and hundreds of thousands of people rushed there hoping to get rich. This was the largest mass migration in American history.

You’ve probably heard that the real money during the gold rush wasn’t made by the people digging for gold, but by the people selling pickaxes. Well, Cornelius made even more money than the pickaxe sellers.

He made his fortune by transporting people to California.

While others were using the standard route through Panama, Cornelius found a shorter route through Nicaragua - about 600 miles shorter. He made an exclusive deal with the Nicaraguan government.

His trips were faster and cheaper than the competition. As hundreds of thousands of people rushed to California, Cornelius was cashing in on every single journey.

 The Letter That Ended Careers

In 1853, Cornelius did something unusual - he took a vacation. At nearly 60 years old, he’d been working nonstop since childhood, so he bought a yacht and went to Europe with his family.

While he was gone, two business partners named Morgan and Garrison betrayed him. They made a shady deal with Nicaragua’s new dictator to steal Cornelius’s exclusive transportation rights.

When Cornelius found out, he wrote them one of the most famous letters in business history:

“Gentlemen: You have undertaken to cheat me. I won’t sue you for the law is too slow. I’ll ruin you. Yours Truly, Cornelius Vanderbilt.”

And he meant every word.

Cornelius immediately set up a competing transit company and used his classic tactic - ridiculously low prices to steal all their customers. He blockaded Nicaragua by refusing to transport anyone to or from the country.

But he didn’t stop there. Cornelius convinced neighboring countries to not recognize Nicaragua’s new government. Then he helped start a war that completely overthrew the government.

He literally started a war because someone crossed him. That’s the level of power and ruthlessness we’re talking about.

The Railroad Revolution

Most people at 60 are thinking about retirement. Cornelius was thinking about monopolising an entirely new industry.

He realised that railroads were the future of transportation. So he sold off his fleet of ships and started buying railroads instead.

At the time, there were dozens of small, independent railroad companies across America. Cornelius began connecting them into one giant network.

Using the same aggressive tactics he’d perfected with boats, he consolidated these independent railroads into the largest railroad system in the world.

He’d buy struggling railroads cheap, improve their efficiency, connect them to his network, and squeeze out any competitors who didn’t want to sell.

The Personal Life Nobody Envied

While Cornelius was building his empire, his personal life was a disaster. At 19, he married his cousin Sophia and had 13 children with her.

But he was a terrible husband and father. He neglected his family, working constantly and showing little affection. At one point, he had Sophia committed to an insane asylum. He also committed one of his sons to an asylum simply because the boy had epileptic fits, which Cornelius viewed as weakness.

When Sophia died in 1868, Cornelius married another woman the very next year. Her name was Frank (yes, Frank - her parents had agreed to name their child after a friend, assuming it would be a boy).

Here’s the weird part: Frank was also his cousin, and she was more than 40 years younger than him. So both of Cornelius’s wives were his cousins.

The Legacy of America’s First Robber Baron

Cornelius died in 1877 at age 82, worth about $100 million - equivalent to roughly $200 billion today. He had more money than the entire US Treasury held at the time.

Despite his massive wealth, he lived relatively modestly, constantly reinvesting in his businesses. When he died, he left 90% of his fortune to his eldest son and split the rest among his many other children, most of whom he viewed as weak and undeserving.

He also donated $1 million to establish Vanderbilt University, which at the time was the largest charitable gift in American history.

Why He Was Called the Most Brutal