Modern Corporations

The end of the 19th century saw the creation holding companies and corporate mergers creating larger corporations with dispersed shareholders. Countries began enacting anti-trust laws to prevent anticompetitive practices and corporations were granted more legal rights and protections.

The 20th century saw a proliferation of laws allowing for the creation of corporations by registration across the world, which helped to drive economic booms in many countries before and after World War I. Another major post World War I shift was toward the development of conglomerates, in which large corporations purchased smaller corporations to expand their industrial base.