She later bought two railroads just to mess with him. Her dilly-dallying - and eventually withdrawing her "yes" vote - caused the stock to drop by $30 per share. Even more exceptional for a woman of her time, she made most of that money herself. But there was one exception: Hetty Green, who left a personal fortune of 100 million at her death in 1916 (1.6 billion today). In revenge, she bought up shares in Huntington's company and refused to vote on a major merger. At the turn of the twentieth century, women were thought to be lacking the temperament to be successful investors. Huntington was also acting like he could do whatever he wanted regardless of what the shareholders wanted. Erenow, quoting Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America's First Female Tycoon, details that Green hated how Huntington had mismanaged two railroads, causing an investment firm to fail. She even went so far as to suggest that Huntington should be arrested instead of the protesters.īut at the heart of their feud was business. But Huntington disapproved of how often she loaned out money and collected interest, calling her "nothing more than a glorified pawnbroker." Plus, Green had principles that kept her from abusing the poor, and she sided with protesting railroad workers in 1895. Granted, Green invested in railroads and considered them better than similar investments of the time, such as mines and factories. However, their relationship was one of mutual disgust.
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