Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter to Form Giant Financial Firm

Marriott, Anne, The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

In a deal likely to rewrite the traditional pecking order in American finance, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. agreed yesterday to buy Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley & Co. in a $10 billion stock merger that shatters all records for the securities industry.

The deal combines Dean Witter's extensive retail brokerage network, which sells stocks and bonds to the public, with Morgan Stanley's corporate merger and securities businesses to create one of the world's largest all-purpose investment banking houses.

The immediate consumer impact of the deal may be small, but analysts said the combination both reflects and fuels the populist investor revolution wrought by the rise of mutual funds, extending stock ownership to ever-growing ranks of small investors and …

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Publication information: Article title: Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter to Form Giant Financial Firm. Contributors: Marriott, Anne - Author. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: February 6, 1997. Page number: 7. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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