Finance · Profile from Finance Research Companion
Morgan Stanley
The white-shoe investment bank created in 1935, when the Glass-Steagall Act forced J.P. Morgan's partners to choose between commercial and investment banking. It became a Wall Street trading powerhouse, nearly failed in September 2008, was saved by conversion into a bank holding company and a $9bn investment from Mitsubishi UFJ, and then spent fifteen years rebuilding itself around wealth and asset management, through Smith Barney (2009–13), E*Trade (2020) and Eaton Vance (2021). By 2026 it held more than $10tn of client assets, and most of its earnings came from fees on those assets rather than from risk taken on its own balance sheet.
At a glance
- Founded
- September 16, 1935, New York, by Henry S. Morgan (grandson of J. Pierpont Morgan) and Harold Stanley, with partners who left J.P. Morgan & Co. after the Banking Act of 1933
- Headquarters
- 1585 Broadway, New York
- Ownership / structure
- Public company (NYSE: MS) since March 1986; a financial holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve since September 2008; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is its largest shareholder at roughly ~20–23% (reported, verify current stake)
- Leadership (2026)
- Ted Pick, chief executive since January 1, 2024 and chairman since January 2025 (verify); Andy Saperstein and Dan Simkowitz, co-presidents (verify current titles); Sharon Yeshaya, CFO (verify)
- Segments
- Institutional Securities (investment banking, equities, fixed income); Wealth Management (advisers, E*Trade self-directed brokerage, workplace stock plans); Investment Management (Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Eaton Vance, Parametric, Calvert, private markets)
- Scale
- Total client assets across wealth and investment management ~$10.5tn at September 30, 2026 (company, verify); ~80,000 employees (reported, verify)
- Revenue and profit
- 2024 net revenues ~$61.8bn and net income ~$13.4bn (company, verify); Q3 2026 net revenues ~$20.3bn, EPS ~$3.03, return on tangible common equity ~22.6% (earnings release, October 14, 2026, verify); Wealth Management Q3 2026 net revenues ~$9.1bn at a ~30.4% pre-tax margin (verify)
- Capital / regulatory status
- Global systemically important bank (G-SIB); subject to Fed stress tests and the stress capital buffer; took $10bn of TARP capital in October 2008 and repaid it in June 2009
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding after Glass-Steagall (1935); Dean Witter Discover merger and the Purcell–Mack culture war (1997–2005); ~$9bn-plus mortgage trading loss and China Investment Corp. capital (2007); bank holding company conversion and MUFG's $9bn (2008); Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (2009–13); the botched Facebook IPO (2012); E*Trade (2020); Eaton Vance (2021); Archegos losses and the block-trading settlement (2021–24)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1935
Founding After Glass Steagall
Founding (spin-out forced by regulation)
1997
Dean Witter Discover Merger
Merger
2007
Mortgage Trading Loss and CIC Investment
Failure (trading loss) / funding (sovereign wealth investment)
2008
Bank Holding Company and MUFG Investment
Restructuring (charter conversion) / strategic investment / bailout (TARP)
2009
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Joint Venture
Acquisition (joint venture with staged buy-out)
2012
Facebook IPO
Underwriting / regulatory settlement
2020
E Trade Acquisition
Acquisition
2021
Eaton Vance Acquisition
Acquisition
2024
Archegos Losses and Block Trading Settlement
Failure (counterparty loss) / regulatory settlement