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Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonA thousand American Men of Mark of Today
20th Edition, 1917. p.323 and the firm he founded, Shearson Hammill & Co. Among Shearson's most notable incarnations were Shearson / American Express, Shearson Lehman / American Express, Shearson Lehman Brothers, Shearson Lehman Hutton and finally Smith Barney Shearson.

For its first eight decades, the firm operated independently and merged with several Wall Street securities firms including Hayden Stone & Co. and Loeb Rhoades & Co. In 1981, Shearson was acquired by American Express and operated as a subsidiary of the financial services company before being merged with Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb in 1984 and E.F. Hutton & Co. in 1988.

In 1993, Shearson was sold to Primerica, a predecessor of Citigroup, and merged with its retail brokerage business, Smith Barney, to create ''Smith Barney Shearson''. The Shearson name was discontinued in 1994.

History

Shearson Lehman Hutton was the result of the combination of several Wall Street firms over a 25-year period beginning in the early 1960s that included Lehman Brothers, Kuhn Loeb, E.F. Hutton, Hayden Stone & Co., Shearson, Hammill & Co., Loeb, Rhoades & Co., Hornblower & Company, and Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt, which ultimately came together under the ownership of American Express.

Shearson Hammill & Co. (1902–1974)

The Shearson name traces its origins to the formation of '' Shearson, Hammill & Co.'', a Wall Street brokerage and investment banking firm founded in 1902 by Edward Shearson and Caleb Wild Hammill. The firm originally built its business as a stock broker, as well as a broker of various commodities, particularly grain and cotton. The firm was a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Before forming the firm, Shearson had served as comptroller of U.S. Steel and of Federal Steel Company before that. Shearson, who was raised in Ontario, Canada began his career as an auditor for the Wisconsin Central Railroad before taking a position in the steel industry in 1898. Shearson was an active member of New York society. Hammill, who was raised in Albion, Michigan, moved first to Chicago and subsequently to New York in 1890.

The firm was originally headquartered in the Empire Building at 71 Broadway in New York City and maintained another main office in Chicago.Investment bankers and brokers of America
1922. p.247 By the end of World War I, Shearson Hammill had six branch offices and seven correspondents.

In the 1960s, Shearson, Hammill became well known for its commercials that suggested "If You Want To Know What’s Going On On Wall Street, Ask Shearson Hammill". The firm had 63 offices in the US and internationally supported by a well-regarded securities research department.

Shearson Hayden Stone (1974–1979)

In the early 1970s, Shearson faced financial difficulties as did many of the venerable Wall Street firms in the midst of the 1973–1974 stock market crash. In response to the crisis, Shearson laid off a large portion of its staff in 1973. Meanwhile, through the 1960s and 1970s, Sanford I. Weill, the chairman of the up-and-coming Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt, had been acquiring many of Wall Streets oldest and most venerable investment banking and brokerage firms. By 1973, Weill's firm was known as Hayden Stone, Inc. following CBWL's acquisition of Hayden, Stone & Co. Despite its strong retail brokerage business, Shearson's capital reserves were diminished and, by 1974, it was clear that Shearson did not have sufficient capital to survive as an independent firm, opting to merge with Weill's better capitalized Hayden Stone, Inc. The combined firm was renamed Shearson Hayden Stone