Business magnate

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Business magnate

A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a mogul, tycoon, baron, or industrialist, is a partially informal term

Term

Term may refer to:*Term or terminology, a word or compound word used in a specific context*Technical term, part of the specialized vocabulary of a particular field...
used to refer to a person who has reached a prominent place in a particular industry (or set of industries) and whose wealth has been derived primarily therefrom.

people usually amass substantial fortunes in the process, and tend to become widely known in connection with their business(es) or through other pursuits such as philanthropy

Philanthropy

Philanthropy derives from Latin, meaning "to love people". Philanthropy is the act of donation money, goods, services, time and/or effort to support a socially beneficial cause, with a defined objective and with no financial or material reward to the donor....
.

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Encyclopedia

A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a mogul, tycoon, baron, or industrialist, is a partially informal term

Term

Description

Such people usually amass substantial fortunes in the process, and tend to become widely known in connection with their business(es) or through other pursuits such as philanthropy

Philanthropy

North American

North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together....
business magnates in extractive industries

Natural resource

Renewable resources Renewable resources are sometimes living resources,, which can restock themselves if used sustainably and not over- harvested....
such as mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
, logging

Logging

Logging is the process in which certain trees are cut down for forest management and timber....
and petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds....
, transportation fields such as shipping

Shipping

Shipping is physical process of transporting product and cargo. Virtually every product ever made, bought, or sold has been affected by shipping....
and railroad

Rail transport

Rail transport is the conveyance of passengers and goods by means of wheeled vehicles running along railways . Rail transport is part of the logistics chain, which facilitates international trade and economic growth....
s, and manufacturing: this includes steelmaking

Steel

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
, banking, and newspaper publishing. This era was known as the Second Industrial Revolution

Second Industrial Revolution

The Second Industrial Revolution, typically dated between 1870 and 1914, was a second phase of the Industrial Revolution, involving several developments within the chemical industry, electrical industry, petroleum industry, and steel industry....
or the Gilded Age

Gilded Age

The Gilded Age was a time period when some activity or skill was at its peak. The wealth polarization derived primarily from industrial and population expansion.The businessmen of the Second Industrial Revolution created industrial towns and cities in the Northeastern United States with new factories, and contributed to the creation of an ethnica...
.

Examples of well-known business magnates include utility

Public utility

A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public services . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies....
and transportation magnate Samuel Insull

Samuel Insull

Samuel Insull was an Anglo-American investor based in Chicago who was known for purchasing public utility and railroads. He contributed to creating an integrated Electric power transmission in the United States....
, newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on Politics, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports....
magnate William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst I was an United States History of American newspapers Business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. The son of self-made millionaire George Hearst, he became aware that his father received a northern California newspaper, The San Francisco Examiner, as payment of a gambling debt....
of the Hearst Corporation

Hearst Corporation

Hearst Communications, Inc. is a privately-held United States-based media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower in Media of New York City, USA....
, oil magnate John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller

John Davison Rockefeller was an United States industrialist and philanthropist. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy....
of Standard Oil

Standard Oil

Standard Oil was a predominant United States integrated petroleum producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as an Ohio Corporation, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational corporations until it was broken up...
, steel magnate Lakshmi Nivas Mittal of Mittal Steel, software magnate Bill Gates

Bill Gates

William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an United States business magnate, philanthropist, author, the List of the 100 wealthiest people , and chairman of the board of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen....
of Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
and poultry

Poultry

Poultry is the category of domesticated birds which some people keep for the purpose of collecting their egg , or kill for their meat and/or feathers....
magnate Frank Perdue

Frank Perdue

Franklin Parsons Perdue , born in Salisbury, Maryland, known as Frank Perdue, was for many years the president and CEO of Perdue Farms, now one of the largest chicken-producing companies in the United States....
of Perdue Farms.

In Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
and some other post-Soviet countries, the term "business oligarch

Business oligarch

Business oligarch is a near-synonym of the term "business magnate". The choice of the word Oligarchy denotes the significant influence such wealthy individuals may have on the life of a nation....
" has become popular.

Etymology

The word tycoon is derived from the Japanese

Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
word , itself borrowed from the Chinese

Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
?? dà jun, which means "great lord," and it was used as a title for the shogun

Shogun

is a military rank and historical title for Hereditary Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of Japan. The Japanese word for "general", it is made up of two kanji characters: sho, meaning "commander", "general", or "admiral", and gun meaning military troops or warriors....
. The word entered the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
in the nineteenth century with the return of Commodore Perry

Matthew Perry (naval officer)

Matthew Calbraith Perry was the Commodore of the United States Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854....
to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. U.S. President

President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
was humorously referred to as the Tycoon by his aides John Nicolay and John Hay

John Hay

John Milton Hay was an United States statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln....
. The term spread to the business community, where it has been used ever since.

The word mogul
Mogul

Mogul may mean:*Mughal Empire, or any member of its ruling dynasty*Mogul is a powerful business leader also known as a business magnate...
originally meant Mongol, or person of Mongolian descent. In this context, it refers to the Mughal Empire

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, ruled most of the Indian Subcontinent by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century....
(mughal being Persian or Arabic for "Mongol") of India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
that existed between 1526 and 1857: the early Mughal emperors claimed a heritage dating back to Mongol ruler Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan , born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the World's largest empires contiguous empire in history....
. The modern meaning of the word is supposedly derived from the storied riches of the Mughal emperors, which for example produced the Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in Agra, India, built by Mughal Empire list of Mughal emperors Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal....
.

The word magnate
Magnate

Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities....
itself derives from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
word magnates (plural of magnas), meaning "great person" or "great nobleman."

As the term industrialist (from Latin industria, "diligence, industriousness") was more widely used in the context of "old world" industries such as steel, oil, newspapers, shipping and rail transport, it has largely been superseded by the other, more modern terms that encompass a wider range of business and commercial activity.

Business magnate

Description

Etymology

See also