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1. Polx
   July 9th, 2008 at 3:29 am

   “Standard Oil, which through shrewd business decisions and some say predatory and illegal practices,”

   Some might say?

   WTF?

   These guys are the reason the USA has anti trust laws.

   Illegal practices is ALL they did.

   They are currently calling themselves Exxon BTW.

2. Nostra
   July 9th, 2008 at 4:21 am

   “A year after he was deposed, Nicholas and his entire family were executed by Lenin’s order.”

   I strongly disagree that his entire family was executed

3. Polx
   July 9th, 2008 at 7:19 am

   re Willam Vanderbilt’s dad

   “Cornelius liked to call his eldest son a “blockhead,” “blatherskite,” “sucker,”

   It sounds more likely his father was in fact

   C. Montgomery Burns

4. Stanium
   July 9th, 2008 at 7:48 am

   OK, most of the persons in the list lived in 20th century, when there had been some statistics going on. But how did they manage to estimate Basil II’s and Marcus Licinius Crassus’s wealth?

5. prophet
   July 9th, 2008 at 9:53 am

   “Peak wealth: $298.3 billion”

   “Carnegie gave away more than $350 million or almost 90% of his fortune.”

   What happened with those numbers?

6. Justin
   July 9th, 2008 at 10:00 am

   Prophet, he gave actually gave away 350 million. They didn’t convert it into today’s dollars.

7. Justin
   July 9th, 2008 at 10:03 am

   While this is pretty interesting, I find it hard to believe that you can really and honestly convert today’s dollar worth with what it would be worth 1000 or 2000 years ago (you know what I mean). I’d love to see the formula and information on that because it seems pretty suspect…

8. MrPumpernickel
   July 9th, 2008 at 11:04 am

   I wonder really how reliable that list is. I’ve heard other accounts of other people being the richest people in history, among them Alfred Nobel (of Nobel prize fame) which’s inventions brought in some serious dough both to him and to his decendants over the years.

9. JL Wallace
   July 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

   WRONG.

   The first two were both financed by The Rothschild Banking Dynasty of Europe. Nathaniel Rothschild OWNED their businesses, assets and everything.

   Why no mention of the Rothschilds? Because they own the entire planet and helped fund the early Zionist movements, the creation of the Suez Canal and both the Bank of England (after 1815) and the Federal Reserve of America.

10. Christophe
    July 9th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

    Ah! The good times when you had no taxes… There’s so much I could do with the 54% they’re taking for my social cover in France…

11. sigh
    July 9th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    Apparently facial hair helps you become wealthy.

12. Oscar Zoroaster
    July 9th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    No Rothschilds on the list?!

    I think Kublai Khan was probably the richest man in history. Here’s a guy who ruled over the largest empire in the history of the world. An estimated 1/3 of the Earths population was ruled by the Mongols. Compare that to the British Empire who ruled over 1/4 of the Earths pop

13. Rocko Chen
    July 9th, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    Rothschilds, Queen of England… much more wealthy than the above list.

14. F
    July 9th, 2008 at 11:51 pm

    How about solomon?

15. Dale
    July 10th, 2008 at 1:15 am

    That’s a neato list, but I’m pretty sure the details of Crassus’ death are reversed in your source - first it was the molten gold into the mouth, then the severing of the head… to retrieve the gold. I mean, what would be the point, or the punishment of pouring gold into his mouth after he was already dead?

    And it was just “his enemies”, it was King Orodes II of the Parthians, whose armies had defeated those of Crassus.

16. Artee
    July 10th, 2008 at 1:25 am

    I cant believe the Philippines didnt accept the $20M offered by Andrew Carnegie (#2)… thats our Filipino pride working against us as usual! damn! We wouldnt have been this poor if we have had our freeom back then!

17. notadummydem
    July 10th, 2008 at 1:57 am

    I love the typical Democrat moron Polx who wants to point out the evil Standard Oil connection between Rockefeller and Exxon and their shrewd business practices. Yeah, Rockefeller gave away billions (in today’s dollars) and Exxon employs over 80,000 people, pays billions in taxes every year that helps pave our roads and puts food on idiots plates who can’t get a job. Yeah, these people are real evil. I’d love to know what the hell you contribute to the world? Please reply we would love to hear how many you employ, how much you give away and how many tax dollars you contribute every year. Rockefeller gave away 10% of his first paycheck and every paycheck thereafter to charity. Maybe we could do a little more too but when the government takes 50% percent of our money already and morons like you want to vote for people who are going to raise our taxes even more, well I guess we better hope the government can do a better job of spitting our money back into the system instead of swallowing it up, never to been seen again and then asking for more and more….just like Obama. You people need to wake the hell up and get your heads out of the Democratic propaganda machine’s ass.

18. Polx
    July 10th, 2008 at 3:23 am

    when ever people say things like “The Rothschild banking dynasty of Europe” I always hear Mike Myers in “So I aMarried An Axe Murderer” going on about the sinister cabal that runs the world called the Pentaverat (sp?)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPMS6tGOACo

19. xen
    July 10th, 2008 at 6:40 am

    Where are the bankers? I highly doubt whether these industrialists were wealthier than the Rothschilds, etc.

20. xen
    July 10th, 2008 at 6:41 am

    @Polx: you forget that bankers make money out of nothing. The create money and then charge interest on it. They have the most lucrative business you can imagine.

21. Blain
    July 10th, 2008 at 8:58 am

    “…Princely State of Hyderabad and Berar, before it was invaded and annexed by India in 1948″

    Um, how does a country invade one of its own states?

22. dylan
    July 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am

    It is impossible to figure out the Rothschild or even the Rockefeller wealth with the way the families have manipulated their respective fortunes through the years…it is very calculated, very tax sheltered, and growing rapidly…

23. jack robot
    July 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    come on, no rothschilds?

    those WAR PROFITEERS have looted the world for 300 trillion. that is the current LOW estimate of their wealth?

    as for the guy defending rockefellers, are you KIDDING me? this guys STEAL money from americans EVERY single day. rockefellers OWN the fed! so they steal money from us, from the FED and OIL. then they ‘give us charity’ back to us?

    so they steal 10 bucks from my pocket, and then hand me back 1 buck and say, ‘be greatful im so charitable?’

    fuck the bankers.

    end the bankers rule, and we will have PEACE in the world.

    BEWARE USURY.

24. yes but
    July 10th, 2008 at 1:28 pm

    The Rothschilds, other old money, and royalty have been hiding their wealth for years.
    Old money doesn’t try to get on Forbes’s lists. They try to stay off them.

25. Jere
    July 10th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    Thanks Warren Buffet for mentioning this through Myspace. All this is very enlightening and interested, including the comments. Does anyone know what Ford’s animosity was towards Accountants? I just graduated with my accounting degree at 52 years old, after attending classes for 10+ years part time. My family has a small income tax and bookkeeping business my grandmother started in the 50’s and my mom currently owns. I am waiting my turn upon her retirement. In the mean time, I have been seeking a job utilizing my degree, without much luck thus far. Currently working as a 9.33hr accounting clerk at the same institution I graduated from, for 14 years this September, make these guys and the figures thereof, seem mind boggling. I did get to see a couple of these guys homes over at Jekyll Island, Georgia while visiting there and they are still magnificent. I could just feel the presence some extraordinary activities happening there once upon a time, just like i felt at the Roman Coliseum when i visited there while serving in the USMC in 1977.

26. Alex
    July 10th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    It’s hard to gauge the wealth of the Rothschild empire - they’re also composed of many, many people, not a singular patriarch.

27. Superman
    July 10th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

    I agree with the people that said the Rothschilds should be on the list. I’m sure that if you could possibly figure up King Solomon’s wealth, you will find that he was the richest.

28. Byteme
    July 11th, 2008 at 12:55 am

    Eat The Rich.

29. Josh
    July 11th, 2008 at 3:42 am

    2 Vanderbilt’s are a charm for the top 10 … surprised not to see Sam Walton or Bill Gates. It’s odd that old school people could rack up so many BILLION when money was worth much less.

30. coach hire
    July 11th, 2008 at 10:15 am

    I’m really surprised by this list but interested none the less thanks

31. Cluck
    July 11th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    Where is Morgan? Carnegie, number 2, sales out to Morgan and Morgan isn’t even listed. How does that work? Another minor note for Morgan’s worth was that he did bailout the US Treasury.

32. Chieron
    July 12th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

    Although this list IS fairly interesting, the method for composing it seems rather dubious. If one looks at the full list in Wikipedia, it is even clearer: Non-American people are at a disadvantage.
    While I can believe that the richest are from America, it’s utterly ridiculous how dominating Americans seem in that list (apart from a few foreigners, esp. monarchs and some interesting historical figures). For example, there are only 2 persons with their residence in Germany on that list, but Germany’s economy isn’t small today and was more important earlier (in Rockefeller’s time, US and Germany were of similar size) - and the two Germans are even from today, not the earlier, more concentrated time. Thus, the ranking method is completely off. I miss Hugo Stinnes and Alfred Krupp for example. The Rothschild, Medici and Fugger dynasties are also missing to give more historical examples. Same goes for Croesus and Alexander the Great etc.
    However, the article states “It is widely known that the DuPont, Rothschild, and Sinclair families are among the wealthiest families. However, their fortunes have not yet been effectively calculated.” which invalidates it for the most.

    The method itself - compare with the respective countries’ GDP - is also questionable - to be the richest person of the world and all time, one has to compare the fortunes with the WORLD’s GDP.

33. Kevin H
    July 13th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    I agree. The Americans look as if they have dominated the list, which leaves me to question what about the wealth of the rulers in Egypt and China?

    All-time would be a stretch, but it’s interesting how most of them made their fortunes off of commodities.

34. WTF
    July 13th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

    WTF?WTF?WTF? “FUCK”youaredown

35. Supernetuser
    July 14th, 2008 at 11:38 am

    Forget the wealthy families of China or Egypt, what about Europe’s royal family?

36. Nickoli
    July 16th, 2008 at 1:58 am

    @Blain

    “Um, how does a country invade one of its own states?”

    The “Princely State of Hyderabad and Berar” was not part of India until it was invaded. This isn’t like the US invading Florida; it’s like if the US invaded Mexico and made it part of the US.

37. Elliot Lee
    July 18th, 2008 at 4:17 am

    Josh said:

    2 Vanderbilt’s are a charm for the top 10 … surprised not to see Sam Walton or Bill Gates. It’s odd that old school people could rack up so many BILLION when money was worth much less.

    I reply:

    Actually, money was worth a lot MORE back then. $1 would buy a lot more stuff than $1 today. That’s why you needed a lot fewer dollars to be a larger fraction of the country’s GDP. Today’s billionaires have a lot of dollars, but they’re not on the list because the dollars are worth less (due to currency manipulation by the government and Federal Reserve). The numbers on the list are adjusted to 2007 dollars, so back in their time, they didn’t have billions, but rather millions.

    Re: Rich people in China

    They probably exist, but it’s probably much harder to tell because the country was Communist.

38. Dyno
    July 18th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    The Rothschilds and others mentioned didnt make the list because the list is based on personal wealth and the value of personal assets. Rockefeller had more value at his peak because he had not only his own liquid assets but also majority stock in the nations top 10 oil companys. Sell all the trucks, railroads, land, refineries, etc of the company add his wealth and then bingo. The Rothschilds and those like them hide their money and also, being bankers, have all their companys money tied up in companies like say, Standard Oil.

39. Dyno
    July 18th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    The article also has a disclaimer saying the DuPont Rothschild and Sinclair have not been accurately calculated. (Mostly due to reasons I stated earlier, they hide thier wealth and the nature of their industries makes it difficult to determine the value of their assets)

40. Banking Dynasty
    July 18th, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    Not allowed to mention the R word. See Oprah’s reaction at the mere mention of the name on her show.

    * Rothschild banking family of Naples
    * Rothschild banking family of England
    * Rothschild banking family of Austria
    * Rothschild banking family of France

41. Rajini Gill
    July 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 am

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42. May Baby
    July 23rd, 2008 at 2:37 am

    I will be the 11th.

43. Club of the Isles
    August 8th, 2008 at 2:27 pm

    Forget these industrialists, they’re small fry, trillions in assets are in the hands of intermarried European royalty and Jewish banking families like the Rothschild’s. They own the central banks of every country which control everything, they own you, you just don’t know it. Your whole world has been weaved by these people; wars, social systems, dogmas, morals, laws, this media your reading right now, nothing happens by accident, it’s all a game. You’re a programmed biobot, a slave to banks, governments, religions and corporations. These ruling class families control it all. A few hundred billion is nothing to the people who invented fractional banking to enslave governments and citizens alike, they print money out of thin air, black magicians. The Jews have got you all by the balls, they always did. Illusion after illusion to enslave you.

44. lionheart
    August 14th, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    Interesting! They sure are loaded.

45. jamesronald
    August 24th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    HELLO RICH MEN OUT THERE DON;T BOTHER TO WASTE UR MONEY ON BUYING SHARES AND UNVALUABLE PROPERTIES I HAVE A PORTION Of REFINERY TO SELL OUT IN CHEAP PRICE DUE TO MY UGENLT NEED OF MONEY AND I DON;T REALLY NEED IT AGAIN BECOS I CAN NOT MAINTANE IT AND CAN NOLONGER HAVE MONEY TO RUN IT ANY MORE IT HAS NEW MACHINE OF REFINNIG OIL,GAS AND PETROL….I DON;T WANT TO DISPLAY OTHERs DOCUMENT AND INFORMATION OF THE REFINERY OUT HERE DUE TO SCAMMER BUT IF U ARE REALLY INTERESTED AND WILLING TO BUY IT I CAN SELL IT TO U ALL I HAVE IS FIVE PORTION TO SELL AND EACH PORTION WILL BE SOLD FOR 10 MILLION POUNDS PLS IF U NOT INTERESTED DON;T BOTHER TO MAIL ME BECOS IF U TRY I CAN REPORT U TO THE POLICE

46. Jacob
    August 25th, 2008 at 7:20 am

    Well it is indid my first time loggin on your page. But my main interest is towards the spending of money with these poeple ie. John Davison Rockeffeler. How thay spent their money, what were their hobbies, any thing but busness. Just trying to get their mind set.

47. Britney Spearson
    September 6th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

    How come there are no women on this list? I guess it is b/c they were not allowed to do anything back then but how about now? I’ll be the first woman billionaire who will go down in history…:)P.S. I won’t have facial hair..

48. CARLOS
    September 17th, 2008 at 11:24 am

    the reaso jonh d. rockfeller was the richest man of all time was because he always thite 10% to his chrch if you are planing on having money remember that

49. shirgie
    September 26th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

    This is so far from my own list. I believe you are referring to the richest people at all times. I have an updates of who are the richest people in the world for the year 2008 and none of them is on your list. I guess people needs to work harder now to reach up to the level of these people…

50. Prince
    November 2nd, 2008 at 1:59 am

    Blain,
    How the country invaded its own state, well first you need to get some inside into India’s history then you would know that Hyderabad which were a part of Deccan Empire rules by Nizam’s which were autonomous part of India during British rule. When Britishers left India after Indian Independence, they left it to Nizam whether he would join India or remain a Independent state of its own. Nizam wanted to be Independent, even though Nizam itself was having more money than India itself but didn’t have army big enough to fight Against newly independent country, which forced which in History of India called “Police Action” in which they invaded Deccan and absorb in India, like what US did with Texas, country invaded its own state in your words.

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