Franklin Templeton Investments

Infobox_Company
company_name = Franklin Templeton Investments
company_
company_type = Public company
foundation = New York, NY
location = San Mateo, CA
key_people = Greg Johnson, CEO
Rupert Johnson, Jr., Vice Chairman
num_employees = 8,680 (June 2007)
industry = Financial Services
products = Mutual funds,
Retirement Planning
revenue = profit$6.205 Billion USD (2007)
net_income = profit$1.77 Billion USD (2007)
slogan = Gain from our perspective
homepage = [http://www.franklintempleton.com/ franklintempleton.com]

Franklin Resources Inc. nyse|BEN is an investment firm originally founded in New York in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the NYSE under the ticker BEN as in Benjamin Franklin, whom founder Rupert Johnson, Sr. admired. In 1973 the headquarters moved from New York to San Mateo, California.

History

In October 1992, Franklin completed the acquisition of Templeton, Galbraith & Hansberger Ltd., leading to the common name Franklin Templeton. In November 1996, Heine Securities Corporation, known for the Mutual Series of funds, merged into the Franklin Templeton complex. In October 2000, Franklin acquired Bissett Funds to increase its Canadian presence, and Bissett remains a key brand from Franklin in the Canadian market. The Fiduciary Trust Company was acquired by Franklin Templeton in April 2001.

Fiduciary Trust Company, a member of the Franklin family, maintained an office of over 650 employees in Two World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. [ [https://www.franklintempleton.com/retail/jsp_cm/corp/press/2001/world_trade_091301.jsp Franklin Templeton] Update on employees and operations. September 13, 2001.] 87 employees died in the collapse. [ [https://www.franklintempleton.com/retail/jsp_cm/corp/press/2001/friq4_102501.jsp Franklin Templeton] Quarterly earnings press release. October 25, 2001.]

The firm specializes in conservatively managed mutual funds. It offers products under the Franklin, Templeton, Mutual Series and Fiduciary brand names. Like other large investment companies, the firm offers a wide variety of funds but is traditionally best known for bond funds under the Franklin brand, international funds under the Templeton brand, and value funds under the Mutual Series brand.

As of July 31, 2008, Franklin Resources, Inc. managed over $570 billion in total assets worldwide. [ [http://www.franklintempleton.com/share/pdf/pressrelease/FRI_AUM_PR0708.pdf Franklin Templeton] Press release. August 11, 2008. ] In April 2007, Franklin Resources was 445th in the Fortune 500, and 7th overall among securities companies. [ [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2007/snapshots/541.html CNN Money] Fortune 500 snapshot, April 2007.]

USA Today listed BEN stock as the top stock pick for the last 25 years based on returns, claiming it is up 64,224% since 1982. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/money/top25-stocks.htm USA Today] "If Only I Had Bought", April 16, 2007.]

The company sponsors a tennis tournament, the "Franklin Templeton Classic."

Mutual funds

Franklin Templeton has over 100 different open-ended mutual funds and 7 closed-end funds in the fund family. Included in these are 36 state and federal tax free income funds, an area of investment pioneered by Franklin.

Prominent funds in the fund family include the world's largest equity fund Templeton Growth Fund, Inc. (opened 1954, $29.5bn assets), the Mutual Shares fund (opened 1949, $7.9bn assets), and the Mutual Discovery Fund (opened 1992$, 7.6bn assets) and the Templeton Growth (Euro) Fund A (acc) ($6.1bn assets).

The Franklin Income Fund (FKINX, assets $33.6bn) is a mutual fund in Morningstar's "conservative allocation" category and "large/value" style box. The fund was created in 1948 and has paid uninterrupted dividends for 60 years. The Franklin Income Fund is constructed primarily of dividend-paying stocks and bonds (2%).

Regulatory Issues

In 2004, Franklin Templeton paid fines to the State of California, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle issues regarding questionable practices including market timing, dogging and "shelf-space" payments. The plan for distribution of settlement monies was completed in September 2006. [https://www.franklintempleton.com/retail/jsp_cm/home/MF_trading_practices.jsp Franklin Templeton] Industry Issues. Retrieved April 18, 2007.]

A settlement was also completed with the Ontario Securities Commission concerning Bissett Funds in September 2005.

References

ee also

*Charles B. Johnson
*Rupert Johnson, Jr.
*Sir John Templeton
*Mark Mobius
*Michael Price
*Max Heine
*David J. Winters
*Elizabeth S. Wiskemann
*Chateau Carolands
*List of mutual fund companies in Canada

External links

* [http://www.franklintempleton.com/ Franklin Templeton] US homepage
* [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/41/41922.html Yahoo Franklin Resources, Inc. Profile]
* [http://www.ftci.com/ftci_9-11-01/archive.html Fiduciary Trust memorial page] for employees who died in 9-11