What does it mean when we say Rockefeller (John D.) had a "Horizontal trust

Question: What does it mean when we say Rockefeller (John D!.) had a "Horizontal trust"!?

yes its for HW
but i cant find anything on this
so plzz helpWww@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

A horizontal trust is a combination of corporations engaged in the same line of business!.

Essentially, persons would purchase stock in companies that should be competing with each other (for example, using a modern example, you would buy stock in AT&T and also in Sprint)!. Then the voting rights for the stock in both companies would be transferred to a single group of people -- a board of trustees, or a "trust" -- and in return, this trust would give you, the stock owner, trust certificates to thank you!. In this way, both companies would actually be run by the same small group of people, and would be able to fix prices higher than they otherwise would be (making your, and their, stock all the more valuable in both companies), and avoid the free market which is meant to encourage (and benefit by) competition!.

A vertical trust is similar except that the companies that the board of trustees would all control would not be companies that should be in competition with each other (like AT&T and Sprint), but instead would be a series of companies in a supply chain of materials to finished product (like, for example, a fiber-optic wire manufacturing and supply company and its main customer, AT&T)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com