Salomon Brothers

Salomon Brothers, Inc. started in 1910 when Arthur, Herbert, and Percy Salomon opened a small money brokerage in New York City. The firm cut its teeth trading government bonds and commercial paper, but it wasn't until the 1980s that it exploded into one of the five biggest investment banks in America, a bulge bracket player that rivaled Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Under the command of John Gutfreund, known as the King of Wall Street, Salomon dominated fixed income like no one else, pioneering mortgage-backed securities and complex derivatives that reshaped global finance.

The firm's culture was famously intense, a world where traders took massive risks and reaped enormous bonuses, but where a single misstep could end a career overnight. Michael Lewis captured this brutal environment in his 1989 memoir Liar's Poker, which turned Salomon into a symbol of 1980s excess. The bank's fall came swiftly after the 1991 Treasury auction scandal, when it was caught submitting false bids. Warren Buffett stepped in as interim chairman to steady the ship, but the damage was done. Travelers Group acquired Salomon in 1997, and a year later it was folded into Citigroup, effectively ending the original firm.

In 2022, a group of former employees revived the Salomon Brothers name, launching a new independent investment bank that provides corporate finance, strategic advisory, and M&A services. The revived entity has already stirred controversy with a bitcoin dusting campaign targeting dormant wallets worth billions, proving that the Salomon name still carries weight and a taste for bold moves. [edit]