#3 Shemagh

The first modern stock trading was created in Amsterdam when a little known outfit called the "Dutch East India Company" became the first publicly traded company. To raise capital, the company decided to sell stock and pay dividends of the shares to investors. One of those early investors, a farmer who had fallen on hard times, Uitstel Von Diamant, used the last of his savings to buy a few of those shares, against the wishes of his friends and family. When his investment was discovered, he was shunned and spent the rest of his life in exile. He kept investing, however, and later when the DEIC consolidated, he made millions. He never sold his original shares though, and despite rumors that he...View all