- E-Trade
Infobox Company
name = E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation
type = Public (NASDAQ|ETFC)
slogan = "Be E*traordinary"
(pronounced as "extraordinary")
foundation =Palo Alto, California (1982 )
location =New York City ,USA
key_people = Donald H. Layton, CEO and Chairman [ [http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi_menuItemID=887566059a3aedb6efaaa9e27a808a0c&ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1000017&newsId=20080303005482&newsLang=en Don Layton new CEO, Chairman, Mar 3, 2008] ]
Robert V. Burton, Chief Operating Officer, E*TRADE Bank https://investor.etrade.com/management.cfm]
num_employees = 3,565 (2007)
industry =Financial Services
products = [https://us.etrade.com/e/t/investingandtrading Trading & Investing] , [https://us.etrade.com/e/t/activetrading Active Trading] , [https://us.etrade.com/e/t/banking Banking & Credit Cards] [https://us.etrade.com/e/t/retirementplanning Retirement & Planning]
revenue = profitUS$ 3.57 Billion (2007)
net_income = lossUS$ 1.4 Billion (2007) [cite web|url=http://origin.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8067279|title=E-Trade posts $1.7 billion loss for 4Q|accessdate=2008-02-15]
homepage = [http://www.etrade.com www.etrade.com]E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation (NASDAQ|ETFC) is a
financial services company based in New York, NY, United States. The company name is often rendered E*Trade or E-trade. It is a holding company, the major business of which is anonline discount stock brokerage service for self-directed investors. Investors can buy and sell securities such asstock s, bonds, options,mutual fund s, andexchange-traded fund s viaelectronic trading platforms or by phone. The company also offers banking and lending products such as checking and savings accounts,money market accounts,certificates of deposit , andcredit cards . E*TRADE's stock is traded on theNASDAQ under the ticker ETFC. [ [http://finance.google.com/finance?q=etfc Google Finance - NASDAQ:ETFC] ] E*TRADE is regulated and licensed byFINRA .History
In 1982,
William A. Porter andBernard A. Newcomb founded TradePlus Inc. inPalo Alto, California . In 1991, Porter founded a new company, E-Trade Securities, Inc., with several hundred thousand dollars of startup capital from TradePlus. E-Trade offered its trading services viaAmerica Online andCompuserve . In 1994, its revenues neared $11 million (up from $850,000 in 1992). It later reorganized and emerged under the name E-Trade Group, with E-Trade Securities as its principal subsidiary. [ [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/ETrade-Financial-Corporation-Company-History.html Funding Universe - E-Trade Financial Corporation History] ]In August 1996, it went public with
Robertson, Stephens & Company as the lead underwriter. In 2003, the company changed its name from E-Trade Group Inc. to E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation.In 2003, the
Toronto-Dominion Bank held talks to merge itsTD Waterhouse discount brokerage with E*TRADE, but the two sides could not come to an agreement over control of the merged entity. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/brokerage/2004-01-13-td-etrade_x.htm USATODAY.com - TD Waterhouse, E-Trade talk merger ] ] [ [http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2005/05/09/online-brokerage050509.html E-Trade makes offer for Ameritrade: report ] ] In 2005, E-Trade made an unsolicited offer forAmeritrade , currently the second largest US discount broker. Ameritrade instead purchased TD Waterhouse, with TD Bank holding a 39% stake in the new entity. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2005/06/22/waterhouse-050622.html Ameritrade to acquire TD Waterhouse USA ] ]In 2005, E*TRADE FINANCIAL acquired
Harrisdirect , formerly a discount brokerage service ofBank of Montreal , andBrownCo , formerly a discount brokerage service of J.P. Morgan. [E-Trade to acquire BrownCo for $1.6B. San Francisco Business Times. September 30, 2005. Available at: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2005/09/26/daily46.html. Accessed September 12, 2007.]Divestiture of subprime portfolio
On November 29, 2007, E*TRADE announced a deal with the
Citadel Investment Group in which Citadel purchased E*TRADE's securitizedsubprime mortgage investments for $800 million, cash. The transaction removed the assets with the greatest market risk from E-Trade's consolidatedbalance sheet -- their $3 billionasset-backed securities (ABS) portfolio, including its ABScollateralized debt obligations (CDOs) andsecond lien securities. This resulted in a net $2.2 billion reduction in assets on theirbalance sheet . In addition to that divestiture, under the terms of the deal E*TRADE received $1.6 billion of capital in exchange for 12.5% senior unsecured notes and 84,687,686 sharescommon stock (equal to 19.99% of the then currently outstanding shares). Citadel received a seat on E*TRADE FINANCIAL'sBoard of Directors .Mitch Caplan resigned as CEO on the same day that the deal was announced.Although E*TRADE's management admits that the deal was costly for E*TRADE, it removed the risk from those subprime investments and resulted in an infusion of $2.5 billion in cash.
Prior to the
subprime mortgage crisis , E-Trade's stock price had reached a 52-week high of $26.08 and had abook value (assets -liabilities / number ofshares outstanding ) of $9.68 per share. However,Citigroup analyst Prashant Bhatia suggested that E*TRADE FINANCIAL could face a run on its bank operations and a bankruptcy filing, causing the stock to drop heavily.After the sell-off and the Citadel deal, E*TRADE's book value was $4.53 per share (a 52.2% drop), and the shares had reached a 52-week low of $3.46 per share (a 86.7% drop). Bloomberg News reported that E*TRADE had lost between 1-2% of their deposits. Moody's reported that E*TRADE saw a "17% drop in customer cash and deposits in the month of November". The company implemented a comprehensive turnaround plan at the end of 2007 which included an assessment of its organizational structure, operating expense base and balance sheet transition, along with a customer win-back campaign.
In March 2008, E*TRADE named Donald Layton, formerly JPMorgan Chase vice chairman, as its new CEO. Layton had joined E*TRADE's board of directors in November 2007, at the same time as the Citadel deal. Layton has been aggressively acting on the turnaround plan and the company has stabilized and is seeing the beginnings of a return to growth.
In July 2008, E*TRADE sold its Canadian division to
Scotiabank for CAN$444 million, as part of a program of selling off non-core assets. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/07/14/etrade-scotia.html Scotiabank buys E*Trade Canada ] ]Notes
External links
* [http://www.etrade.com/ E-Trade official website]
* [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/51/51422.html Yahoo! - E-Trade Financial Corporation Company Profile]
* [http://www.hoovers.com/e*trade-financial/--ID__51422--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml Hoover's - E-Trade Financial Corporation Company Profile]
* [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/ETrade-Financial-Corporation-Company-History.html E-Trade Financial Corporation Company History]
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