Who Owns Smith Barney?

Smith Barney traces its origins to two separate firms. Charles D. Barney founded Charles D. Barney & Co. in 1873 in Philadelphia, after the failure of his previous firm, Leech & Barney. Edward B. Smith & Co. was founded around the same period. The two firms merged in 1936 to form Smith Barney & Co., creating one of the largest brokerage houses on Wall Street.

The merged firm built a reputation for conservative, research-driven investment advice. It targeted wealthy individual clients rather than institutional investors, which differentiated it from firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley that focused on institutional business. Smith Barney's advertising slogan, "We make money the old-fashioned way. We earn it," became one of the most recognized taglines in financial services advertising during the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1987, Primerica Corporation, led by Sanford Weill, acquired Smith Barney for approximately $1.1 billion. Primerica was a financial services conglomerate that had been built through aggressive acquisitions. Smith Barney became Primerica's primary brokerage brand. In 1993, Primerica merged with Travelers Group, and Smith Barney became part of a larger financial services empire that also included Travelers Insurance and Commercial Credit.

The 1998 merger of Travelers Group and Citicorp created Citigroup, the largest financial services company in the world at that time. Smith Barney became Citigroup's wealth management and brokerage arm, operating alongside Citibank's retail banking operations. At its peak under Citigroup, Smith Barney had approximately 13,000 financial advisors and managed over $1 trillion in client assets.

The 2008 financial crisis strained Citigroup financially and created tension over the future of Smith Barney. Citigroup needed capital and agreed in January 2009 to sell 51 percent of Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley in a joint venture valued at approximately $2.7 billion. The joint venture, called Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Holdings, combined Morgan Stanley's existing wealth management operations with Smith Barney's broker force.

Morgan Stanley moved to take full control of the joint venture over the following years. It purchased an additional 14 percent stake from Citigroup in March 2012 for approximately $1.9 billion. In June 2013, Morgan Stanley bought the remaining 35 percent for approximately $3.6 billion, bringing the total acquisition cost to approximately $9 billion. Citigroup used the proceeds to strengthen its capital base.

After the 2013 buyout, Morgan Stanley began phasing out the Smith Barney name. The firm rebranded all former Smith Barney offices and advisors under the Morgan Stanley Wealth Management banner. By 2015, the Smith Barney brand was effectively retired. Some older clients still refer to their advisors as "Smith Barney," but the brand has no active marketing or operational presence.

As of 2026, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is one of the largest wealth management firms in the world, with approximately $5.4 trillion in client assets and over 16,000 financial advisors. The division's scale is a direct result of the Smith Barney acquisition, which gave Morgan Stanley a mass-affluent client base that it previously lacked.