Mississippi Company (French: Compagnie du Mississippi) was a French trading company

In 1717 , the Mississippi Company received a royal grant with exclusive trading rights for 25 years .

The rise and fall of the company is connected with the activities of Scottish financier and economist John Law who was then the Controller General of Finances of France .

The company's value temporarily soared to the equivalent of $6.5 trillion today , which would make it the second most valuable company in history.

Law exaggerated the wealth of Louisiana with an effective marketing scheme, which led to wild speculation on the shares of the company in 1719 .

The market price of company shares eventually reached the peak of 10,000 livres.

As the shareholders were selling their shares, the money supply in France suddenly doubled, and inflation burgeoned.

Inflation reached a monthly rate of 23% in January 1720 and the "bubble" burst at the end of 1720 .

Law devalued shares in the company in several stages during 1720 , and the value of bank notes was reduced to 50 percent of their face value.

The fall in the price of stock allowed Law 's enemies to take control of the company by confiscating shares of investors who could not prove they had actually paid for their shares with real assets.