Shearson

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.

For its first eight decades, the firm operated independently and merged with a number of Wall Street's most venerable securities firms including Hayden Stone & Co. and Loeb Rhoades & Co.. In 1981, Shearson was acquired by American Express and operated as a subsidiary of the financial services company before being merged with Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb in 1984 and E.F. Hutton & Co. in 1988.

In 1993, Shearson was sold to Primerica, the predecessor of Citigroup, and merged with its retail brokerage business, Smith Barney to create Smith Barney Shearson'. The Shearson name was discontinued in 1994.