Nathan Mayer Rothschild: how to make a fortune on information
He who owns the information, owns the world. This is a legendary saying of a man who managed to navigate in time and made a fortune. Nathan Mayer Rothschild has entered world history and his success is still being understood in various manuals and business books. He has become a model for how knowledge and competent risk management lead to very fast wealth.
The story of Nathan Mayer Rothschild
Mr. Rothschild was born in 1775, and in 1798 he decided to emigrate to the British Isles. He settled in Manchester, and taking advantage of his father’s money, he opened his own business, establishing supplies of textiles to the United States and Europe. However, after Napoleon’s troops blocked the Channel, it was impossible to continue the business. Then Rothschild moved to London and opened a financial organization N M Rothschild & Sons.
Success came to Nathan in 1814. The British authorities needed a reliable operator to ensure stable gold supplies to the troops. This was exactly what Rothschild Bank had become. During the year the government transferred through N M Rothschild & Sons about 11 million pounds to Marshal Wellington. The management of the financial organization in the conditions of military Europe was able to establish a chain of money transfers, so that the risks of customers sought to zero. There were practically no delays.
Rothschild became especially famous during the Battle of Waterloo, when he and his children made a fortune on it. At the beginning of the Battle of Waterloo, rumors surfaced on the British Isles that Napoleon was winning the battle. However, Marshal Wellington was helped by Gebhard von Blücher and his troops from Prussia. That was a decisive factor in the Allied triumph.
The Rothschilds watched the battle through their courier Roworth. As soon as it became known that the French troops had been defeated and Napoleon had evacuated to Belgium, Mr. Rothschild arrived at the nearest port and agreed with the captain of the fishing vessel on an urgent transfer to England despite the storm. According to rumours, it cost him 2 thousand pounds sterling. There is other data, on which Roworth sent information to Rothschild with a carrier pigeon.
While the society was convinced of the defeat of Britain, Nathan Rothschild immediately ordered to start selling the securities. Many companies did the same, which caused the English market to collapse. Thanks to the negligible value of the shares, Rothschild acquired a huge number of organizations. And as soon as several important deals were made, Marshal Wellington’s aide declared victory at the Battle of Waterloo.
When this news came out, the stock markets crawled up again, allowing Mr. Rothschild to deposit 40 million pounds into his account. The efforts of the courier Roworth became a key factor thanks to which the family began to sell their shares, thus provoking similar movements of other companies. In fact, it was a win-win move. The world learned about these events from the Rothschild biography, prepared by Georges Darnavell. However, some researchers question the authenticity of this story.
