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Gould and Fisk

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Submitted By Audreyannak
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Audreyanna Kimball
Intro to Business
Assignment 2

Gould and Fisk. Jay Gould and Jim Fisk are names many people might not know about. Both men were stockbrokers around 1886. Jay Gould was born in Roxbury, New York in 1836. Gould started buying stock in 1859. His first investments were in small railways. James (Jim) Fisk was born in 1835. Jim was also known as “Big Jim”, “Jubilee Jim”, and “Diamond Jim”. When Jim was younger he ran away from school and joined a circus. Jim had many occupations before becoming a stockbroker. Gould and Fisk worked together in a great scheme. Gould and Fisk were important factors in the “Erie Railroad War”. If it wasn’t for what they did, the railroad might have ended up belonging to Cornelius Vanderbilt, a successful railroad owner and the richest man alive at the time. Gould and Fisk issued illegal shares and put them into the market. Vanderbilt was buying all of the stocks to put himself into control of the Erie Railroad. What Vanderbilt did not know was that Gould and Fisk would just keep producing the stock certificates, taking Vanderbilt’s money. Vanderbilt was not actually gaining any control of the Erie Railroad because the stick was “Watered down” by Gould and Fisk. Eventually it was brought to the public what was happening. When citations were issued to the men, they ran and hid. Even though he was scammed and did not acquire the Erie, Vanderbilt was still the richest man in America at the time. Another Scandal that both Gould and Fisk were involved in was Black Friday. Black Friday occurred on September 24, 1869. On this date the U.S. gold market collapsed. Fisk and Gould figured if they could scam Vanderbilt they would be able to scam Wall Street investors as well. Andrew Johnson had come up with a money policy and President Grant was about to continue it. “Grant tried to improve the economy by reducing the supply of greenbacks, or paper dollars. He did so by using gold to buy dollars from citizens at a discount and replacing them with currency backed by gold.” Gould and Fisk knew if this policy was put forward that they would not be able to follow through with their plan. Gould and Fisk did not want the gold to be sold. Gould and Fisk bought all the gold they could causing the price of gold to raise. When the priced was at its peak, they sold it. Government gold hit the market which made people realize that there was more gold available causing the price to drop. Investors had used loans to buy their gold from Gould and Fisk, which was now worth far less. Gould and Fisk would of never have gotten away with what they had done in today’s market. They would be in jail for a long time. Gould and Fisk benefited from both of these schemes. When Gould passed away in 1892 of tuberculosis he was worth $72 million dollars which was all left to his family. Fisks fate was just as bad. Fisk was murdered after being involved in another scandal. Fisk was shot twice and was able to identify his killer before he passed away from the wounds. Both Gould and Fisk were very well known for their business actions and both died very wealthy men.

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