In 1867 Thomas Ismay bought The White Star Line for £1,000. The purchase was made possible when Ismay received financial backing from Gustav Schwabe with the stipulation that all new White Star Line ships would be built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard. 

The first White Star ship built by Harland & Wolff, for the White Star Line, was the  Oceanic, which was launched on August 27, 1870. The Atlantic, Baltic, Republic, Celtic and Adriatic would soon follow.  In 1902 J.P.  Morgan who owned the International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM) purchased White  Star Line, for £10,000,000,  The Ismay family was initially opposed to the purchase, but a majority of the stockholders approved the transaction.  Bruce Ismay and Harold Sanderson stayed with the company and were later joined by William J. Pirrie, managing director and controlling  chairman of Harland & Wolff.  Pirrie was instrumental in the sale of White Star Line to Morgan.

In February, 1904, Bruce Ismay accepted the position of President of the IMM, with unlimited control. In 1907, a dinner was held in Downshire, at  Pirrie's mansion in London, Ismay discussed the building of two huge ships that would be the largest, most luxurious, and  fastest ships at sea. A  third ship was later added, and these ships would compete directly with ships from Hamburg-American Line, the North German Lloyd, and the Cunard Line. The ships names would be Olympic, Titanic, and Gigantic (later renamed to Britannic after the Titanic disaster). [This was extracted from another web site about the Titanic.]