Overview

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm, offering a wide variety of products and services. A partial list of these products and services includes:

• Investment banking services such as advising, securities underwriting
• Institutional sales and trading, including both equity and fixed income investments
• Research services
• Individual investor services such as credit (see also: Discover Card), private wealth management, and financial and estate planning
• Traditional investments such as mutual funds and separately managed accounts
• Alternative investments such as hedge funds, managed futures, and real estate

Despite offering such a diverse array of services, Morgan Stanley is an industry leader in many areas, particularly equity and debt underwriting and investment banking. The company considers its brand name and reputation as a longtime leading financial firm among its most valuable assets.

History: mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures

Morgan Stanley was founded in New York on September 5, 1935, by Henry S. Morgan, and Harold Stanley of J. P. Morgan & Co. along with others from Drexel & Co. This split of the commercial and investment banks came as a result of the Glass-Steagall Act. Within its first year it achieved 24% of market share among public offerings. In 1964 Morgan Stanley created the first computer model for financial analysis. By 1971 the Mergers & Acquisitions business was established along with Sales & Trading. In 1986 Morgan Stanley Group, Inc. became publicly listed.

In 1996, Morgan Stanley acquired Van Kampen American Capital (website), a respected mutual fund company.

On February 5, 1997, the company merged with Dean Witter, and Discover & Co. (a.k.a. Dean Witter Reynolds) the spun-off financial services business of Sears Roebuck. The merged company was briefly known as "Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co." until 1998 when it was known as "Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co." until late 2001. To foster brand recognition and marketing the Dean Witter name was dropped and the firm became "Morgan Stanley". The merger was controversial, and the firm lost some of its blue chip status with its corporate client base.