The King Summary and Analysis

Salomon Brothers was born from a family quarrel. Originally from France, Ferdinand Salomon came to America and continued his career as a money lender to securities firms. He had four sons, three of whom went into business with him. As Ferdinand was an orthodox Jew, he refused to work on Saturdays, but the sons balked at this. Eventually, the sons scraped up five thousand dollars and split from their father, forming Salomon Brothers. Originally, the Salomon brothers brokered money but moved into corporate bond trading and Treasury securities as well. The firm remained small and was not considered equal to the larger firms which dealt in underwriting and investment banking.

The decision by brother William to require that investors in Salomon Brothers leave their money in the firm, drawing only 5% each year, weeded out the short-termers and allowed the...