When did the word 'billionaire' first appear?! Documents say the word was first used to describe a person's wealth in 1916, when newspapers wrote about the fortune of oil industry emperor John Rockefeller. In 1916, Rockefeller's wealth reached $1 billion, equivalent to 2% of the US GDP at the time. Despite more than a century passing since the word 'billionaire' was coined to describe a person's wealth, Rockefeller still holds the record for the highest fortune in history. The wealth of the world's richest person, Elon Musk, is about $473 billion, according to the 'Bloomberg Billionaires' list, and his fortune is less than 1.5% of the United States' GDP. Although Elon Musk's recent bonuses, which are set to make him the richest person in history and break Rockefeller's record, the growing US debt may prevent that. Returning to Rockefeller, his company 'Standard Oil' had come to control 90% of the American oil market by 1900, prompting Congress to pass anti-monopoly laws and forcing him to split his company into smaller ones. However, the laws did not stop the growth of his wealth, as the newly created, split companies saw successive increases. Rockefeller owned influential stakes in 'Exxon', 'Mobil', and 'Chevron', as well as investments in refining and distribution companies, and about 20 of the world's largest energy companies.
