Sandy Weill and Citigroup

In 1947, Weill was sent to Peekskill Military Academy (PMA), a well-known boarding school at that time. In PMA, Weill excelled academically, in sports and extra-curricular activities. He was appointed as an 'officer' in his junior and senior years. The success achieved by Weill in his four years at PMA gave him the confidence he needed. In 1951, after graduating from military school, Weill joined Cornell University. In 1955, he got married to Joan Mosher, an education major at Brooklyn College. In the same year he got his college degree. Weill's first Wall Street job was with Bear Stearns brokerage firm in the late 1950s, as a runner⁵ at $150 per month. In 1960, at the age of 27, Weill started his own brokerage firm Carter, Berlind, Potoma and Weill (CBPW) with Arthur Carter, Roger Berlind and Peter Potoma.

In 1970, CBWL acquired Hayden, Stone & Co., a 100-year old brokerage firm much bigger than CBWL in size. The motive behind the merger was to use Hayden, Stone & Co.'s strong brand name to sell the services offered by CBWL. In 1972, CBWL's name was changed to Hayden, Stone & Co. The success of this merger inspired Weill to go in for more such deals. In 1974, Hayden, Stone & Co. acquired the troubled Shearson Hamill & Co. to form Shearson Hayden Stone. In 1974, Shearson Hayden Stone acquired Loeb Rhoades Homeblower & Co. and was renamed as Shearson Loeb Rhoades. After 14 such deals, in 1980, CBWL became Shearson with $5.5 billion in revenues, $56 million in profits and the second biggest brokerage firm on Wall Street after Merrill Lynch...