Shearson, Hammill & Co. was a

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

brokerage and investment banking firm founded in 1902 by

Edward Shearson Edward Shearson (August 3, 1864 - October 30, 1950) was a banker, millionaire and founder of Shearson, Hammill & Co., which was among the largest brokerage and investment banking firms in the United States.Harrison, Mitchell C. ed.Prominent and pr ...

and

Caleb Wild Hammill Caleb Wild Hammill (1863-1921) was one of the founders of the stockbrokerage and banking investment firm of Shearson, Hammill & Co., founded in 1902 by Mr. Hammill & Edward Shearson. It was in existence from 1902 to 1974 under that original name. ...

. The firm originally built its business as a stock

broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

as well as a broker of various

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a comm ...

, particularly grain and cotton. The firm was a member of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

, the

Chicago Stock Exchange NYSE Chicago, formerly known as the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX), is a stock exchange in Chicago, Illinois, US. The exchange is a national securities exchange and self-regulatory organization, which operates under the oversight of the U.S. Sec ...

and the

Chicago Mercantile Exchange The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (often called "the Chicago Merc", or "the Merc") is a global derivatives marketplace based in Chicago and located at 20 S. Wacker Drive. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board, an a ...

. The firm was originally headquartered in the

Empire Building An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

71 Broadway The Empire Building is an office skyscraper at 71 Broadway, on the corner of Rector Street, in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Kimball & Thompson in the Classical Revival style and built by Marc Eid ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and maintained another main office in Chicago.Investment bankers and brokers of America
1922. p.247 Shearson was acquired in by Hayden Stone & Co. to form

Shearson Hayden Stone Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward Shearson Shearson, Hammill & Co. was founded by

and

in 1902. Before forming the firm, Shearson had served as comptroller of

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

and of

Federal Steel Company Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

before that. Shearson, who was raised in

Ontario, Canada Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

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 Albion is a city in Calhoun County in the south central region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,616 at the 2010 census and is part of the Battle Creek Metropolitan Statistical Area. The earliest English-s ...

, moved first to Chicago and subsequently to New York in 1890. 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. 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 The 1973–1974 stock market crash caused a bear market between January 1973 and December 1974. Affecting all the major stock markets in the world, particularly the United Kingdom, it was one of the worst stock market downturns since the Great ...

. 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 Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill (; born March 16, 1933) is an American banker, financier and philanthropist. He is a former chief executive and chairman of Citigroup. He served in those positions from 1998 until October 1, 2003, and April 18, 2006, re ...

, the chairman of the up-and-coming

Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt, originally Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill, was an American investment banking and brokerage firm founded in 1960 and acquired by American Express in 1981. In its two decades as an independent firm, Cogan, Berlin ...

, 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 the 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 Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonLoeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co., which like Shearson had been suffering financial difficulties and was looking for a potential acquiror. During Mothers Day Weekend 1979, Shearson and Loeb agreed to an $83 million all-stock merger to form

Shearson Loeb Rhoades Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonLoeb Capital Partners timeline
In 1981, Weill sold the combined Shearson Loeb Rhoades to

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

to form

Shearson/American Express Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward Shearsoninvestment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

and trading firm,

Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, an ...

, and added it to the Shearson family, creating Shearson Lehman/American Express. The Shearson name was finally abandoned in 1994 following

Primerica Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) is a company that provides insurance, investment and financial services to middle income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Benefit Life Insurance Company, Prime ...

's acquisition of Shearson from

. Although initially Primerica had intended to brand its retail brokerage business as

Smith Barney Shearson Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people wit ...

, the Shearson name was dropped.Shearson Name may Disappear
New York Times, November 10, 1993

Acquisition history

The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors (this is not a comprehensive list):"Salomon Smith Barney" from Gambee, Robert.
Wall Street
'. W. W. Norton & Company, 1999. p.73

References

*Harrison, Mitchell C. ed.
Prominent and progressive Americans: an encyclopædia of Contemporaneous Biography
Vol II. New York Tribune, 1904. (Edward Shearson, p. 200) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shearson, Hammill and Co. Defunct financial services companies of the United States American companies established in 1902 Financial services companies established in 1902 Banks established in 1902 Banks disestablished in 1974 Former investment banks of the United States Shearson Lehman/American Express 1902 establishments in New York City

Acquisition history

See also

References