American Rascal Jay Gould-Part Four Too Big Bird To Fail

This week we are wrapping up the Jay Gould story! After tanking the Gold exchange, Jay got right back to work messing up the train industry. He had a dream of connecting a transcontinental rail path, and he got to work purchasing any train companies he could get his rascally little hands on. By WHATEVER means necessary. All the while, perpetrating some stunning examples of price fixing, insider trading, and pump and dump schemes leaving most of his business partners in his wake. All activities that are highly illegal today but were just part of doing business back in Gilded Age America!By 1881, Gould personally owned over 15,000 miles of rail line or about 15% of the countries total railways. We follow the ups and downs of this last chapter of his life before he eventually contracting tuberculosis and passing away at 56 leaving behind a huge legacy and a massive fortune but since he liked to stay mysterious and not put his name on anything most people don't think of him as the shady titan of business that he actually was.We hope you enjoy!Sources: American Rascal How Jay Gould Built Wall Street’s Biggest Fortune by Greg SteimetzSend us a text! Let us know what topics you want us to cover!