Yes, and they didn't invent the practice. Standard Oil brought competitors into its fold in order to maintain its pricing power and dominate the petroleum marke

Yes, and they didn't invent the practice. Standard Oil brought competitors into its fold in order to maintain its pricing power and dominate the petroleum market. As with most questionable business practices, they're not wise to be transparent about their true reasons for doing it, and inevitably they admit to their true reasons anyway.