[citation needed] Following increasing persecution of Baghdad's Jews by Dawud Pasha, the family moved to Bombay via Persia.

Sassoon was in business in Bombay no later than 1832, originally acting as a middleman between British textile firms and Persian Gulf commodity merchants, subsequently investing in valuable harbour properties.

[3] When the Treaty of Nanking opened up China to British traders, Sassoon developed his textile operations into a profitable triangular trade: Indian yarn and opium were carried to China, where he bought goods which were sold in Britain, from where he obtained Lancashire cotton products.

Along with Parsi businessmen such as Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, David Sassoon continued the trade with China and from the wealth earned there he started his own business of oil.

Various charity trusts, which continue in existence today, were funded from his private income and named after him and other members of his family.

He soon came to live with his family at a palatial home he reconfigured and named Byculla's Bungalow or Sans Souci,[4] the former palace of Shin Sangoo.

Nearby Rani Bagh (Jijamata Udyann) was also his property and was donated to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation for the construction of the Albert Museum, designed by the most prominent architect of the time.

His son, Abdullah changed his name to Albert, moved to England, became a Baronet and married into the Rothschild family.

He built a synagogue in the Fort (area) and another in Byculla, as well as a school, a Mechanics' Institute, a library and a convalescent home in Pune.

His business interests were inherited by his son Sir Albert Sassoon; Elias David had established a rival firm.