The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals He was worth more than 100 Billion USD in today's dollars. He owned governments and bent them until they submitted. The match business, which was just one business he monopolized, was MASSIVE - bigger than software today, probably. Look at the parallels between then and NOW. A primer (yes, from Wiki, but much his life was controversial and disputed in factual respect, and Wiki's entry is actually very good, IMO). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Kreuger Economist Article: http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_TDNSRGGS The book: http://www.amazon.com/Match-King-Kreuger-Financial-Scandals/dp/1586487434 The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals (Hardcover)