Shearson

Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward Shearson 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.