Interlocking Shareholdings

Finance a la shmoop what are interlocking directorates? got global

corporate Skull and Bones conspiracy theory on the brain well you'll need it [Man holding skull and bones conspiracy theory]

when you think about this one an interlocking Directorate happens when a

number of companies share directors so that each company is you know business

friendly with the other the heyday of interlocking directorates was the

Rockefeller era when the former wealthiest man in the world wanted to [John Rockefeller appears]

control more or less everything in and around discovery, drilling, storage,

distribution and banking in and around Big Oil

so the Rockefeller interlocking Directorate of say nine white men on

each board and yes in those days they were all white and men well three of

them on this board overseeing the rockefeller holdings in drilling would

also be on the board of well his company holdings in oil storage and

these other three who sat on his oil storage board would also sit on his

train plane and automobile distribution businesses well the boards are

interlocked to be sure that each of the vertically integrated monopolies played

nice with each other and you know kept the monopoly party going ooh and the [Board members playing monopoly]

party did rage on for a very long time interlocking directorates got a lot of

grief in the U.S at the time yes they did and that's noteworthy because well

in Japan and Korea and Russia and other countries which make big products like

cars and washing machines and cell phones that are competitive with the big [Kids playing sack race]

US companies well they're interlocking directorates are the normal way of doing

business you know the norm if gravity still

exists well over time those interlocking directorates carry a structural

advantage over the US system because they can rely on each other for supply

and for demand they can plan many many years into the future and they can elbow

out any would-be competition who might be there with huge heft in government [Man performs karate move on another man]

help in the U.S it's kind of the opposite it's more like every company

for him or herself so there's no cooperation there and the government

it's more the enemy half the time than your business partner

well interlocking directorates are not necessarily evil they're just a [Man with horns appears]

component of a globally competitive industry where the structure of company

ownership needs to reflect the basic concept that each share of common stock

could and should carry one vote so now that you understand interlocking

directorates we can finally get back to the question of who killed Kennedy this

guy sure doesn't have an alibi [Big foot walking in a misty forest]