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Morgan Stanley

A global financial services firm in New York, Morgan Stanley helps corporations, governments and individuals raise money and manage wealth, offering investment banking and trading, with retail investors using its E*TRADE platform. It was born in 1935 when the Glass-Steagall Act forced J.P. Morgan to split its commercial and investment banking arms, prompting Henry Morgan (J.P.'s grandson) and Harold Stanley to launch the firm. Fun fact: it merged with Dean Witter in 1997 and briefly went by "Morgan Stanley Dean Witter" before dropping the extra names in 2001.