On This Day

Stock brokerage firm Merrill Lynch is founded

Merrill Lynch & Co., formally Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, was a publicly traded American investment bank that existed independently from 1914 until January 2009 before being...

Merrill Lynch & Co., formally Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, was a publicly traded American investment bank that existed independently from 1914 until January 2009 before being acquired by Bank of America and rolled into BofA Securities.

The firm engaged in prime brokerage and broker-dealer activities and was headquartered in New York City, occupying the entire 34 stories of 250 Vesey Street. The company agreed to be acquired by Bank of America on September 14, 2008, at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, the same weekend that Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail. The acquisition was completed in January 2009 and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. was merged into Bank of America Corporation in October 2013.

Events Before

  1. The US Post Office begins parcel post delivery

    The Bronx General Post Office (also known as the Bronx Central Post Office or Bronx Central Annex) is a historic post office building at 558 Grand Concourse in the South Bronx in New York City, New…

  2. British House of Commons accepts Home Rule for Ireland (but the Great War gets in the way of it happening)

    British House of Commons accepts Home Rule for Ireland (but the Great War gets in the way of it happening)

  3. China's National Assembly opens in Peking, the first free democratic parliament in Chinese history

    The National Assembly was the legislative branch of the Beiyang government during the Republican era of Chinese history.

  4. US Admiral Chester Nimitz (28) weds Catherine Freeman (21) in Wollaston, Massachusetts

    US Admiral Chester Nimitz (28) weds Catherine Freeman (21) in Wollaston, Massachusetts

  5. US Actors' Equity Association forms (NYC)

    The 1919 Actors' Equity Association strike officially spanned from August 7, 1919, to September 6, 1919.

Events After

  1. "The Birth of a Nation" the first 12-reel film in America, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Mae Mar

    "The Birth of a Nation" the first 12-reel film in America, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Mae Marsh, premieres at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles

  2. French forces attempt to drive the Germans back into the Champagne region during World War I, gaining a few hundred yard

    French forces attempt to drive the Germans back into the Champagne region during World War I, gaining a few hundred yards at the cost of 50,000 casualties

  3. First military use of poison gas occurs when Germany uses chlorine gas against the Allies along the Western Front at Ypr

    First military use of poison gas occurs when Germany uses chlorine gas against the Allies along the Western Front at Ypres, France in World War I [1]

  4. First landings at Gaba Tepe and Cape Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula by ANZAC forces during World War I

    The landing at Anzac Cove on Sunday, 25 April 1915, also known as the landing at Gaba Tepe and, to the Turks, as the Arıburnu Battle, was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by...

  5. RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German submarine off the southern coast of Ireland, with 1,198 lives lost

    RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German submarine off the southern coast of Ireland, with 1,198 lives lost

More from the 1910s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on January 6, 1914?
Merrill Lynch & Co., formally Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, was a publicly traded American investment bank that existed independently from 1914 until January 2009 before being acquired by Bank of America and rolled into BofA Securities. The firm engaged in prime brokerage and broker-dealer activities and was headquartered in New York City, occupying the entire 34 stories of 250 Vesey Street. The company agreed to be acquired by Bank of America on September 14, 2008, at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, the same weekend that Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail.
Why is Stock brokerage firm Merrill Lynch is founded historically important?
The acquisition was completed in January 2009 and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. was merged into Bank of America Corporation in October 2013.

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