Salomon Brothers
1 New York Plaza which was Salomon Brothers' headquarters starting in 1970 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| NYSE: SB | |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 1910 |
| Founders | Arthur Salomon Herbert Salomon Percy Salomon |
| Defunct | 2003 (name dropped by Citigroup) |
| Fate | Acquired by Travelers Group in 1997 |
| Successor | Salomon Smith Barney (1997–2004), Smith Barney (2003–2009) |
| Headquarters | 7 World Trade Center 250 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10006 U.S. |
Key people | John Gutfreund (chairman, 1978–1991) Warren Buffett (chairman, 1991–1997) Deryck Maughan (CEO, 1992–1997) |
| Products | Sales and trading, Investment banking |
| Revenue | US$9.046 billion (1996) |
| US$617 million (1996) | |
| Total assets | US$194.881 billion (1996) |
Number of employees | 7,100 (1996) |
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York City. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and a very profitable firm on Wall Street during the 1980s and 1990s. Its CEO and chairman at that time, John Gutfreund, was nicknamed "the King of Wall Street".
Salomon Brothers served many of the largest corporations in America. It was a leading underwriter of corporate bonds and one of the top firms in futures and options (known as "derivatives") and in securitization in a range of asset classes including commercial real estate securities.
The bank was famed for its "cutthroat corporate culture that rewarded risk-taking with massive bonuses, punishing poor results with a swift boot." In Michael Lewis' 1989 book Liar's Poker, the insider descriptions of life at Salomon gave way to the popular view of banking in the 1980s and 1990s as a money-focused and work-intensive environment. It was acquired by Travelers Group in 1997, which in turn became part of Citigroup the next year.
In February 2022, it was announced that the Salomon Brothers brand will be revived by a group of former employees and execs and operate as full-service investment bank again.