Successors of Standard Oil
Following the 1911 Supreme Court ruling that found Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly, the company was broken up into 39 different entities, divided primarily by region and activity.
Among Standard Oil's largest non-petroleum descendants is the credit bureau TransUnion, which originally was divested from the Standard-descending Union Tank Car Company.
The two companies partnered on a semi-frequent basis during their infancy before pursuing mergers and acquisitions, with Jersey Standard buying Texas-based Humble Oil and Socony merging with Standard descendant Vacuum Oil to form Socony-Vacuum.
In retail, Jersey Standard used three brand names to market its products to American motorists: Esso, Enco, and Humble (after its acquisition).
[5] In the late 1990s, the two companies began merger talks and the deal was closed with American regulatory approval (albeit with a nearly 2,500 retail station divesture) in November 1999.
Chevron made another acquisition in 2001, this time acquiring Texaco, and temporarily renaming itself to ChevronTexaco Corp. between 2001 and 2005.
[7][8] After the 1911 breakup, Standard Oil of California signed an agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to create a joint venture between the two.
[21] Marathon became the target of a hostile takeover by Mobil (Standard Oil of New York), though opted to sell itself instead to U.S.
[24] Marathon Petroleum would subsequently acquire Andeavor in 2018 and gain ownership of fellow Standard spinoff ARCO, though ARCO's assets at this point were primarily from independent oil company Richfield Oil Company and not Standard spinoff Atlantic Petroleum, whose assets were eventually acquired by Sunoco.
[27] Debuting as one of the largest IPOs in history, Conoco merged with the Phillips Petroleum Company to form ConocoPhillips in the early 2000s.
[28][29] Similar to Marathon's business strategy, ConocoPhillips would later divest its downstream assets into a new company titled Phillips 66, which currently controls the original Conoco brand name.
[34] Founded in 1866 and acquired by Standard Oil in 1874, Atlantic Refining and Marketing was credited with opening the first modern gas station on Baum Boulevard in Pittsburgh in 1916 and would primarily be located on the East Coast of the United States until its 1966 merger with the Richfield Oil Company to form ARCO.
ARCO was later sold off to Tesoro Corporation in 2013 (with BP retaining marketing rights in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest) and Tesoro itself (after briefly renaming itself Andeavor) being purchased by Marathon Petroleum in 2018, where ARCO continues as a brand name under Marathon.
After the breakup, the company continued primarily operating in Ohio, and entered a joint-venture with BP in Alaska during the 1960s.
[39] Pennzoil split its energy and motor parts divisions in 1998, with the original Pennzoil company inheriting the energy production facilities and a new company, Pennzoil-Quaker State, inheriting the automobile parts and fluids division.
[45] In 1987, Unilever acquired Chesebrough for $3.1 billion USD, or $72.50 per share, in an all-cash deal, beating a $66/share offer from American Brands.
