Career
In 1899 with a German chemist named Hermann Hille, Barnes developed a mild silver nitrate antiseptic solution, marketed as Argyrol. Used in the treatment of gonorrhea and as a preventative of gonorrheal blindness in newborn infants, Argyrol was an immediate financial success. Barnes proved adept at running the business: to avoid having Argyrol being stolen by competitors, he convinced Hille not to patent it; he marketed directly to physicians, and took his product abroad. Within five years of starting the business in 1902, the firm cleared $250,000 in profits (roughly $5.8 million today). After buying out Hille, in 1907 Barnes had become a millionaire by the age of 35. In July 1929, he sold his business for a reported sum of $6 million. The move was well timed, as he sold before the 1929 stock market crash and the discovery of antibiotics, which replaced Argyrol in use.
Read more about this topic: Albert C. Barnes
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)