 | |
| Company type | Merged |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded |
|
| Fate | Merged with Morgan Stanley in 1997 |
| Headquarters | |
| Products | Brokerage |
| Revenue |  $1.132 billion (1996)[1] |
| $951 million (1996)[1] | |
| Total assets | $17.3 billion |
Number of employees | 33,084 (12/31/96)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | Discover Card (prior) |
Dean Witter Reynolds was an American stock brokerage and securities firm catering to a variety of clients. Prior to the company's acquisition, it was among the largest firms in the securities industry with over 9,000 account executives (ranking third in the US in 1996) and was among the largest members of the New York Stock Exchange. The company served over 3.2 million clients primarily in the U.S. Dean Witter provided debt and equity underwriting and brokerage as mutual funds and other saving and investment products for individual investors. The company's asset management arm, Dean Witter InterCapital, with total assets of $90.0 billion prior to the acquisition, was one of the largest asset management operations in the U.S.[1]
Dean Witter Reynolds was founded in 1978 as the merger of Dean Witter & Co. and Reynolds Securities (with Dean Witter acquiring Reynolds), which was then the biggest merger in the history of Wall Street.[2][3] The company was acquired by Sears in 1981, and was renamed "Dean Witter, Discover & Co." in 1993 when Sears spun off the company.[4][5] The company also owned Discover Card.
In 1997, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. merged with investment banking house Morgan Stanley to form "Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Discover Co.".[6] The combined firm later dropped the "Discover Co." name in 1998 and further the "Dean Witter" name in 2001.[7][8]
For many years, the company used the corporate slogan, "We measure success one investor at a time", which was later adopted by Morgan Stanley.[9]
- ^ a b c d Dean Witter, Discover Inc. - SEC Form 10-K Annual Report for Year Ended December 31, 1996
- ^ Sloane, Leonard. "Witter, Reynolds Set Biggest Merger in Wall St. History". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
- ^ Egan, Jack (1977-10-04). "Dean Witter, Reynolds Set Merger". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
- ^ "Sears to acquire Dean Witter for $607 million". UPI. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
- ^ Rowe, James L. Jr. (1981-10-09). "Sears Makes Bid to Buy Dean Witter Reynolds". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
- ^ "Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co" (PDF). Morgan Stanley.
- ^ "History of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Company – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
- ^ "Morgan Stanley's New Brand Unveils Tuesday". Retrieved 2018-06-22.
- ^ "Goldman Sachs tries something new: promoting itself to the public as a brand worth knowing". The New York Times, May 18, 1999.