Hornblower & Weeks

Last updated
Hornblower & Weeks
TypeAcquired
Industry Brokerage, Investment bank
Founded1888
FateMerged with Loeb, Rhoades & Co. to form Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co.
Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts
New York, New York

Hornblower & Weeks was an investment banking and brokerage firm founded by Henry Hornblower and John W. Weeks in 1888. At its peak in the late 1970s, Hornblower ranked eighth among member firms of the New York Stock Exchange in number of retail offices, with 93 retail sales offices located in the United States and Europe.

Contents

Hornblower was active in financing automobile companies in the first half of the 20th century, including Dodge Motors, General Motors, and Hudson Motor Car Company. [1]

The firm, which by the 1970s, was known as Hornblower & Weeks, Hemphill, Noyes and later, Hornblower, Weeks, Noyes & Trask, was acquired by Loeb, Rhoades & Co. to form Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co.

History

Henry Hornblower c.1908 Henry hornblower.png
Henry Hornblower c.1908

Founding and early history

Hornblower & Weeks was organized on August 7, 1888. Henry Hornblower and John W. Weeks undertook the continuation of the business of Hornblower & Page, which had been founded and managed by Hornblower's father, Edward Thomas Hornblower.

Henry Hornblower joined his father's firm in 1879 at age 16, serving as a clerk. Henry Hornblower, who was born June 6, 1863, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, came from a distinguished family in Boston. "The name of 'Hornblower' is one of the features of Boston and the old Bay State. It is a name that has flourished through generations...The line of Hornblowers in Boston and New England has been an honorable one as far back as family prestige can be traced." [2]

Following the death of Mr. Augustus A. Page in the spring of 1888, Edward Hornblower, blind by this time, announced his retirement and his intention to dissolve the firm. [2] The younger Hornblower joined together with John Weeks to begin the new firm where the old one had left off. [3] The firm's original office was located at 51 State Street with one clerk, James J. Phelan, who would ultimately serve as a partner of the firm until his death in 1934. [3] In 1889, they bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange for $19,000 and moved to the Merchant’s Bank Building on Devonshire Street. Surviving the Panic of 1893, which resulted in numerous failures of industrial corporations and financial houses, the young firm moved into larger quarters on the second floor of the Exchange Building at 53 State Street.

1900-1950

By 1900, the firm had a net worth of $400,000, by 1902, $800,000, and in 1903 and 1904, founding partner John W. Weeks, consolidated the First National Bank of Boston with the National Bank of Redemption, creating the largest bank in New England. In 1907, offices were opened in Providence and Chicago, and a Bond department was established. That same year, the firm became one of the first on Wall Street to set up a Statistical and Research Department.

John W. Weeks c.1908 John weeks.png
John W. Weeks c.1908

In 1913, Ralph Hornblower, son of the founder, Henry Hornblower, was admitted to the partnership, and John W. Weeks retired upon his election to the U.S. Senate. Weeks was involved in the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1914 and would go on to be U.S. Secretary of War in the 1920s.

After the crash of 1929, which the firm survived with small capital losses except in the syndicate department, the firm went through a period of retrenchment. By 1930, firm capital had grown to over $16 million, but would be substantially reduced during the ensuing years of the depression. During the 1930s Hornblower made a number of acquisitions including a merger with G.M.-P. Murphy & Co., best known for its financing of major aviation companies, including Pan American Airways, United Air Lines, Boeing, and Lockheed.

In 1950, Henry Hornblower, II and Ralph Hornblower Jr., were admitted as partners to the firm.

Expansion and consolidation from 1950-1977

In 1953, Hornblower & Weeks merged with the firm Paul H. Davis & Co. of Chicago, which had functioned as a correspondent of the New York Hornblower office. Later that year the acquisition of the cotton brokerage business of Scatterty & Jones led to new Hornblower offices in the Southern U.S. The mergers brought the firm’s total to 19 offices nationwide. Reed & Company of Worcester, Massachusetts was acquired in 1955.

In the 1960s, the firm opened new offices around the country with thirty offices operating from coast to coast, and memberships were held in all the major American exchanges by 1963.

The firm merged with Hemphill, Noyes & Co. in 1963, changing its name to Hornblower & Weeks, Hemphill, Noyes. Hemphill, Noyes & Co. had been founded in 1919 by Jansen Noyes and Clifford Hemphill, among others. [4] Jansen Noyes Jr. was named chairman of Hornblower, Weeks, Hemphill, Noyes & Co. in 1968. Hornblower next acquired Spencer Trask & Co., changing the name once again to Hornblower, Weeks, Noyes & Trask. At this point in time, Hornblower ranked eighth among member firms of the New York Stock Exchange in number of retail offices, with 93 retail sales offices located in the United States and Europe.

Sale of Hornblower

In January 1977, Loeb, Rhoades & Co. agreed to a merger with Hornblower, Weeks, Noyes & Trask to form Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co. The merger turned out to be disastrous for both firms. The two firms incurred significant costs attempting to merge their back office operations, both of which had issues prior to the merger. By the end of 1978, less than a year after the merger, the combined firm was losing millions of dollars.

Through the 1960s and 1970s, Sanford I. Weill was acquiring brokerage firms and by 1979 was running Shearson Hayden Stone, the culmination of nearly a dozen acquisitions. By early 1979, Hornblower, now known part of the larger Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co. was suffering and looking for a potential acquiror. During Mothers Day Weekend 1979, Loeb and Shearson agreed to a merger to form Shearson Loeb Rhoades. Weill was named the CEO of the combined firm and John Loeb became the firm's chairman. At the time, Shearson Loeb Rhoades was among the largest investment banking houses with $250 million of equity capital. [5]

Successors

Following the merger with Shearson, the Hornblower name was retired permanently. Just two years later, in 1981, Weill sold the combined company to American Express to form Shearson/American Express.

Shortly after the merger with Shearson, Ralph Hornblower Jr., and Ralph (Ray) Hornblower III formed a new company, named Hornblower & Company with offices in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Ray Hornblower was a running back for the Harvard Football team in the 1968 tie game against Yale, featured in the documentary film Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.

Merger history

The following is an illustration of the company's mergers and its role in later successor firms (this is not a comprehensive list): [6]


Shearson Lehman Hutton
(merged 1988)
Shearson Lehman Brothers
(merged 1984)
Shearson/American Express
(merged 1981)

American Express
(est. 1850)

Shearson Loeb Rhoades
(acquired 1981)
Shearson Hayden Stone
(merged 1973)
Hayden Stone, Inc.  (formerly CBWL-Hayden Stone, merged 1970)

Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt
(formerly Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill, est. 1960)

Hayden, Stone & Co.

Shearson, Hammill & Co.
(est. 1902)

Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co.
(merged 1978)
Loeb, Rhoades & Co.
(merged 1937)

Carl M. Loeb & Co.
(est. 1931)

Rhoades & Company
(est. 1905)

Hornblower, Weeks, Noyes & Trask
(merged 19531977)

Hornblower & Weeks
(est. 1888)

Hemphill, Noyes & Co.
(est. 1919, acq. 1963)

Spencer Trask & Co.
(est. 1866 as Trask & Brown)

Paul H. Davis & Co.
(est. 1920, acq. 1953)

Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb
(merged 1977)

Lehman Brothers
(est. 1850)

Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
(est. 1867)

Abraham & Co.
(est. 1938, acq. 1975)

E. F. Hutton & Co.
(est. 1904)

Related Research Articles

EF Hutton was an American stock brokerage firm founded in 1904 by Edward Francis Hutton and his brother, Franklyn Laws Hutton. Later, it was led by well known Wall Street trader Gerald M. Loeb. Under their leadership, EF Hutton became one of the most respected financial firms in the United States and for several decades was the second largest brokerage firm in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Express</span> American multinational financial services corporation

American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment cards. Headquartered in New York City, it is one of the most valuable companies in the world and one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company's logo, adopted in 1958, is a gladiator or centurion, whose image appears on the company's well-known traveler's cheques, charge cards, and credit cards. It is based in the American Express Tower, located in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, where it maintains its corporate offices. The company is the largest provider of traveler's cheques worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanford I. Weill</span> American banker and philanthropist (born 1933)

Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill is an American banker, financier and philanthropist. He is a former chief executive and chairman of Citigroup. He served in those positions from 1998 until October 1, 2003, and April 18, 2006, respectively.

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup announced that Citigroup would sell 51% of Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley, creating Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, which was formerly a division of Citi Global Wealth Management. The combined brokerage house has 17,646 financial advisors and manages $2 trillion in client assets. Clients range from individual investors to small- and mid-sized businesses, as well as large corporations, non-profit organizations and family foundations.

Kuhn, Loeb & Co. was an American multinational investment bank founded in 1867 by Abraham Kuhn and his brother-in-law Solomon Loeb. Under the leadership of Jacob H. Schiff, Loeb's son-in-law, it grew to be one of the most influential investment banks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, financing America's expanding railways and growth companies, including Western Union and Westinghouse, and thereby becoming the principal rival of J.P. Morgan & Co.

Dean Witter Reynolds was an American stock brokerage and securities firm catering to a variety of clients. Prior to the company's acquisition, it was among the largest firms in the securities industry with over 9,000 account executives and was among the largest members of the New York Stock Exchange. The company served over 3.2 million clients primarily in the U.S. Dean Witter provided debt and equity underwriting and brokerage as mutual funds and other saving and investment products for individual investors. The company's asset management arm, Dean Witter InterCapital, with total assets of $90.0 billion prior to the acquisition, was one of the largest asset management operations in the U.S.

Hornblower may refer to:

PaineWebber & Co. was an American investment bank and stock brokerage firm that was acquired by the Swiss bank UBS in 2000. The company was founded in 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts, by William Alfred Paine and Wallace G. Webber. Operating with two employees, they leased premises at 48 Congress Street in May 1881. The company was renamed Paine, Webber & Co. when Charles Hamilton Paine became a partner. Members of the Boston Stock Exchange, in 1890 the company acquired a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Wallace G. Webber retired after the business weathered a major financial crisis of 1893.

Jansen Noyes Jr. (1918–2004) was an investment banker and stock brokerage company executive.

Hayden, Stone & Co. was a major securities firm founded in 1892 by Charles Hayden and Galen L. Stone. The firm was acquired by Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt in 1972 and, after its name disappeared in 1979, was part of what would become Shearson/American Express in 1981.

H. J. Meyers & Co, Inc. of Rochester, New York is a defunct investment banking and brokerage firm that specialized in small cap and micro cap financings. It was originally known as Thomas James Associates, Inc before they acquired H.J. Meyers & Co, Inc. The firm had a reputation of being a boiler room that operated within the realm of unscrupulous policies, stock manipulation, fraudulent, high pressure sales tactics and excessive markups were common.

L.F. Rothschild was a merchant and investment banking firm based in the United States and founded in 1899. The firm collapsed following the 1987 stock market crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shearson</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shearson, Hammill & Co.</span>

Shearson, Hammill & Co. was a Wall Street brokerage and investment banking firm founded in 1902 by Edward Shearson and Caleb Wild Hammill. The firm originally built its business as a stock broker as well as a broker of various commodities, particularly grain and cotton. The firm was a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Loeb, Rhoades & Co. was a Wall Street brokerage firm founded in 1931 and acquired in 1979 by Sanford I. Weill's Shearson Hayden Stone. Although the firm would operate as Shearson Loeb Rhoades for two years, the firm would ultimately be acquired in 1981 by American Express to form Shearson/American Express and three years later Shearson Lehman/American Express.

Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt, originally Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill, was an American investment banking and brokerage firm founded in 1960 and acquired by American Express in 1981. In its two decades as an independent firm, Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt served as a vehicle for the rollup of more than a dozen brokerage and securities firms led by Sanford I. Weill that culminated in the formation of Shearson Loeb Rhoades.

Peter A. Cohen is the chairman and CEO of Andover National Corporation, a public holding company. He was formerly the chairman and CEO of Cowen Inc., also known as Cowen & Company now TD Cowen. Prior to his current role, Cohen founded Ramius Capital Management in 1994, a $13 billion investment firm, which he merged with Cowen Inc. in 2009. Prior to this, Cohen was the chairman and chief executive officer of Shearson Lehman American Express from 1983 through 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dain Rauscher Wessels</span>

Dain Rauscher Wessels was a brokerage and investment banking firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm traced its origins to a number of smaller regional securities firms founded in the 1920s and 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassatt & Company</span>

Cassatt & Company was a Philadelphia based investment banking and brokerage firm founded in 1872. The firm was acquired by Merrill Lynch in 1940, shortly after Merrill's merger with E.A. Pierce & Co. that created Merrill Lynch, E.A. Pierce & Cassatt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Langeloth Loeb Sr.</span> American investor

John Langeloth Loeb Sr. was an American investor and executive who served as president of Loeb, Rhoades & Company.

References

  1. Milestones. TIME, Mar. 28, 1938
  2. 1 2 Copper Curb & Mining Outlook Vol. 9, #1, September 27, 1911, p.14-15
  3. 1 2 Bankers magazine, Volume 77. 1908, p.441-448
  4. Business digest and investment weekly. January 7, 1919
  5. Loeb Capital Partners timeline Archived 2012-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Salomon Smith Barney" from Gambee, Robert. Wall Street . W. W. Norton & Company, 1999. p.73