Word: perots
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Computer Millionaire H. Ross Perot's decision in 1971 to take over the teetering brokerage firm of duPont, Glore Forgan & Co. was widely credited with averting a round of genuine investor panic on Wall Street. Among other things, it seemed that the firm's customers claimed that they owned about $15 million more in securities than could be found in duPont, Glore Forgan's vaults. Other brokers were hardly anxious for back-office carelessness on Wall Street to become any more of an issue than it already was-which was certain to happen if the company folded...
Last week, confirming widespread rumors that he planned drastic changes in his expanded Wall Street empire (TIME, Jan. 28), Perot set about closing down duPont Walston, the nation's second largest brokerage house (after Merrill Lynch). The firm was the old Walston & Co. (renamed duPont Walston Inc.), an ailing brokerage that Perot had partially consolidated with duPont, Glore Forgan last July. Whatever the mistakes of the Texas millionaire in his 32-month binge in the securities industry, at least he still knew how to prevent panic. Walston's 143 offices remained temporarily open for business...
Following Perot's partial merger of the firms, Walston was given the retail stock-trading operation, while duPont Glore Forgan Inc. handled customer accounts, stock clearing and other record-keeping duties with data-processing techniques that Perot brought with him from Texas. To put the two firms back on their feet, he has poured in some $100 million from his own considerable fortune...
...flusher times, Perot's plan might have worked. But the stock market has been wobbling downward ever since the Dow Jones hit its alltime high of 1051.7 in January 1973. The advent of negotiated commission rates for large transactions in 1971 has cut into the profits of many firms. New York Stock Exchange member firms collectively lost some $80 million last year after turning a profit of more than $787 million in 1972. Among the biggest losers was Walston, which reportedly dropped $22.9 million between July and November, the first five months of Perot's stewardship. Meanwhile, duPont...
Since July Walston has lost at least $10.4 million from operations. According to associates, Perot has said that if that firm did not turn a profit in 1973, he would put it through a major reorganization. Two weeks ago, Walston's executive committee met to consider several options. Among them: a merger, a new infusion of capital, reduction of the sales operation or a stepped-up promotion and marketing campaign...