Assignment : Entrepreneur

story of

: Andrew Carnegie

He grew up in poverty, living in a one-room house,

often sleeping to forget the misery of hunger. To fight

starvation, his family migrated to the US. His first job was at
age 13 as a bobbin boy, changing spools of thread in a cotton
mill 12 hours a day, 6 days a week in a Pittsburgh cotton
factory. In his spare time, he would read works of Robert Burns
and historical Scottish heroes like Robert the Bruce, William
Wallace, and Rob Roy. His next job was as a telegraph
messenger boy. A true entrepreneur, he was a hardworker, and
soon was promoted as an operator. Colonel James Anderson,
who opened his personal library of 400 volumes to working
boys each Saturday night, gave a good boost to Carnegies
education and passion for reading. He did a series of irailroad
jobs. There, he learnt about the industry and business in
general. It was during this stint that he began making
investments in steel and oil companies that earned him huge
returns. By 1889, Carnegie Steel Corporation was the largest of
its kind in the world. He went on to become become the richest
man in the world.
Known as one of builders of America who helped shape the
nation, in 1901, he sold Carnegie Steel to JP Morgan for $480
million and became a philanthropist. He donated millions to the
New York Public Library, established the Carnegie Institute of
Technology in Pittsburgh, which is now known as Carnegie-

Mellon University, created the Carnegie Foundation for the

Advancement of Teaching, and formed the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace.

Few industrialists can compete with the enormous success of

steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, who made $480 million when
his sold his Carnegie Steel Company to JP Morgan in 1901.
Today, that deal would have been worth $310 billion,