The US Supreme Court split one company into 34, and its pieces became worth more together

By 1900 Standard Oil controlled roughly 90% of US oil refining through aggressive pricing and secret rail rebates. In 1911 the Supreme Court ordered it broken into 34 separate companies under the Sherman Antitrust Act. Investors who held onto shares in the pieces, including future ExxonMobil and Chevron, ended up richer than if the giant had stayed intact.

— US Supreme Court, Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States — 221 U.S. 1, 1911