The Rise And Fall of the Dutch East India Company

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#history #voc #business

Written By: Sam

Video Created By:
Svibe Multimedia Studio
Editor: Cardan
Media Gatherer: Andrea Rivas

Footage Courtesy of: Getty Images

Music Provided By: Epidemic Sound

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7.9 trillion dollars. That was the historically adjusted market capitalization of the Dutch East India Trading Company. It was a for profit company larger and more powerful than most of history's greatest empires. [1]

If it was around today the world’s first multinational corporation would be worth more than Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and still have more than enough money left over to purchase McDonald’s, Walmart and Samsung.

Most companies are lucky to last ten years. [2]

But The Dutch East India trading company lasted over 200 years, from 1602 until 1799, with an impact that still continues today thanks to its radical business innovations…and *ahem* ‘questionable behaviour’.

But its biggest contribution to the world – besides all the killing and invading and enslaving – are shareholders.

Besides pioneering corporate governance, the creation of shareholders paved the way for modern business to become more accessible to the average person.

This helped popularize employee welfare like health care and pensions, and introduced insurance bonds and joint-stock ownership.

So, who were the people that owned the most valuable company of all time? How did the concept of a corporation even start? And how did the board of investors influence the direction of world history?

- Sources -

[Gronmin]

The impact of the Dutch East India company is really insane, it's probably been more impactful than most countries

[LouisDillard]

It's wild how the VOC paved the way for modern businesses. Shareholders, corporate governance—it's all stuff we take for granted now, but back then, it was revolutionary.

[KPJohnson]

"Dutch Spice & Genocide" - I almost choked on my lunch!

[GameyRaccoon]

Wtf 2 days ago. Im playing The Netherlands on EU4 this week and obviously I've been recreating the VOC, so I wanted to learn more. How serendipitous.

[quintvanblitterswijk]

All because the Ottomans took Constatinople and killed our trade network and raised the prices of spices to such heights it was cheaper to man a boat a get it yourself. We were the first nation to break away from the Spanish Empire centuries before Bolivar.

[conradkolo]

This is the first time in like, a decade that I look at YouTube comments, and oh boy, it's just spam bots and a couple of real people. What the hell is happening?

[geordiejones]

The British East India Company was even more crazy. For about 20 years they were in control of THE largest army on Earth. That only changed during Napoleon's invasion of Russia and the subsequent 6th Coalition War. Britain let a private company conquer India bit by bit using native Indians to make up the numbers. At their peak about half of Parliament owned stock in the BEIC, and when one governor-general returned home to face corruption charges his defense amounted to "gentlemen, if you saw the treasures that I left behind, you would be amazed at my modesty."

[DenUitvreter]

I know the English like to pretend they were of huge importance in the 17th century, but the founding of the VOC was all about the 80-year for independence with Spain and Portugal. The English were just in the way sometimes later on but they were not out to destroy the Dutch Republic and it's religious freedom like the Spanish and Portuguese, nor could they rival the Dutch in trade.

The VOC soon saw more opportunity than initially anticipated and didn't want to pay dividends but reinvest the profits in growth. That's why the stock market had to be founded so the poor shareholders could get ROI through selling their shares to rich merchants out to build generational wealth. The VOC didn't pay dividends for the first 31 years of it's existence.

And what is with this 7.9 billion? Why are you regurgitating a bogus calculation by an obscure Canadian media company? The VOC didn't dominate global trade, it only had a Dutch monopoly East of the Cape and did most of it's trade within Asia, and a lot more than spices. The European trade was dominated by the independent Dutch merchants with 100 times more ships than the VOC, trading much more frequently. Even the good old herring fishery of the Dutch remained more profitable than peak VOC.

[davidbudd]

If a shareholder is very active, e.g. Carl Icahn or Warren Buffet, then there certainly is the possibility of shareholders steering the ship. Otherwise, as in the case of most retail investors, the shares never vote, and the suits control everything.

[YoghurtEquity]

Takeaway: having >22 children is a great diversification strategy ✍🏻

[gtbkts]

Thanks for the great video and all of the awesome content!!

[aymericvanderschueren]

1:18 that hurts, but at least you tried ! 👌

[cedrictrempe-kcyt]

I now prefer this channel than your main, like the smoother pace and the depth in explanations

[ricardoandresdevillamarque]

So this is a video just reading the wikipedia page? okay.

[johnnichter]

Could you do a video on how the Hanseatic League would have influenced and differed in structure and operations from the VOC and EIC?

[colinhannah]

love the video map at 146 has kolkata in modern day Laos (?) regardless it is ion the west coast of india closer to colombo than dushanbe. Regardless, really appreciate the high quality video!

[SusCalvin]

A detail with these East India companies is that the crown could be among the investors. The line between government and the personal wealth of the sovereign is stranger.

[ErickOberholtzer]

Can you do a video about how periods of extreme income inequality ended over time?

[OwnGrid]

Surely Indonesian suffering at hands of the greedy Dutch deserved a mention, but totally ignored even though it is their wealth that was stolen that made this company what it was

[cole]

He says every sentence with the same inflections
Even questions
Aaaah
High ~~> low ~~~>middle