Smith Barney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Smith Barney is an American-based global stock brokerage, investment banking and asset management services company owned by Citigroup.
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[edit] Origins
Once known as "Salomon, Smith, Barney," the company dropped the "Salomon" after marketing surveys indicated that many investors were not comfortable with the semitic-sounding name. The Smith Barney story dates back to 19th century Philadelphia, where a young broker, Charles Barney, founded his firm in 1873 and a young investment banker, Edward B. Smith, started his in 1892. These pioneers of the American securities industry helped make Wall Street the world's financial capital.
Today Smith Barney's nearly 13,100 Financial Consultants serve more than 8.8 million client accounts representing nearly $1.173 Trillion in client assets.
1873 Charles Barney, a stockbroker, founds Charles D. Barney & Co.
1892 Investment banker Edward Smith founds Edward B. Smith & Co.
1910 Arthur, Herbert and Percy Salomon found Salomon Brothers & Co. and partner with Morton Hutzler & Co. to become Salomon Brothers & Hutzler.
1938 Charles D. Barney & Co. and Edward B. Smith & Co. merge, forming Smith Barney & Co.
1970 The Hutzler name is dropped and the firm becomes Salomon Brothers, Inc.
1976 Smith, Barney & Co. merges with Harris, Upham & Co. to form Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.
1987 Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. Inc. is acquired by Primerica, a publicly held financial services corporation.
1993 July: Primerica acquires the retail brokerage and asset management operations of Shearson Lehman Brothers, and combines them with Smith Barney.
1993 December 31: Smith Barney becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Travelers Group (formed by the acquisition of The Travelers by Primerica).
1997 Smith Barney Holdings Inc., the brokerage arm of Travelers Group, is combined with Salomon Inc. to form Salomon Smith Barney Holdings Inc.
1998 October 8: All Citicorp and Travelers Group divisions merge to become Citigroup Inc.
[edit] Return of the Smith Barney name
The firm's brand name remains in the mind of American consumers through television commercials in which actor John Houseman proclaimed "Smith Barney makes money the old-fashioned way — we earn it."
