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A piece of the old Rock(efeller)

Published: Aug 9, 2017 06:42:52 AM IST
Updated: Aug 9, 2017 11:24:32 AM IST


$392 bln is the net worth of John D Rockefeller in 1913 (adjusted for inflation, as of 2016), considered to be the wealthiest man in American history
Image: Hulton Archive / Getty Images

When the conglomerate Mitsubishi Estate struck a deal to take control of Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center in late 1989, it capped a decade of go-go acquisition of US trophy assets—Firestone Tire & Rubber, Columbia Pictures and plum real estate—by Japanese corporations. This deal, struck just weeks before Japan’s stock market cratered, would prove hubristic, landing the iconic building complex in bankruptcy.

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(This story appears in the 18 August, 2017 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)

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