SoundView Technology Group

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p>In 1977, <a href="/facts/Gideon_Gartner/e8DnYjWg">Gideon Gartner</a> initiated a financial service for <a href="/facts/Gartner_Group/T4pPSLWF">Gartner Group</a> via a partnership with <a href="/facts/Dillon,_Read_%26_Co./F05JhtPW">Dillon, Read & Co.</a>, which distributed its reports and <a href="/facts/Personal_Services/Lfl98Pz8">personal services</a> to <a href="/facts/Dillon,_Read_%26_Co./F05JhtPW">Dillon, Read & Co.</a> investment client organizations. Gartner Group severed the Dillon Read relationship and became an independent <a href="/facts/Broker-dealer/W8fLBuKM">broker-dealer</a>, Gartner Securities Corp., in 1984.
</p><p>Gartner Securities was spun off to its shareholders just before its first public offering in 1986, providing analysis, investment advice, and investment banking services, to institutional investors.  The firm changed its name in 1988 to Soundview Technology, when Gartner was acquired by <a href="/facts/Saatchi_%26_Saatchi/4obkgwav">Saatchi & Saatchi</a>.
</p><p>From 1988 to 1991 the firm remained a small focused brokerage operation with the bulk of their clients being small institutions and hedge funds.
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<h2 id="expansion">Expansion</h2>
<p>In 1991 the firm hired a senior investment banking executive, Brian Bristol, to begin to build an investment banking practice. Additional analysts were added to grow coverage as the technology sector continued to perform well.
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<h2 id="acquisitions">Acquisitions</h2>
<p>Wit SoundView acquired the E*Offering business unit of E*Trade in May 2000 to further expand into technology investment banking.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> This acquisition not only added a substantial number of new staff but also more offices in <a href="/facts/San_Francisco/cb9l7hbC">San Francisco</a> and <a href="/facts/London/KozCCsy9">London</a>.
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<h3>Merger with Wit Capital</h3>
<p>At the peak of the <a href="/facts/Dot-com_bubble/dCFWQt0s">dot-com bubble</a> in early 2000, SoundView merged with Wit Capital to form Wit SoundView in a $320 million all-stock transaction.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>  Wit Capital had been founded just a few years earlier, in 1996, by Andrew Klein.  Wit positioned itself as an online investment banking firm focused on the Internet and technology sectors.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>  Wit had been backed by <a href="/facts/Goldman_Sachs/cKeyh6CP">Goldman Sachs</a>, which sold its stake in 2001.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
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<h3>Sale to Charles Schwab</h3>
<p>On November 19, 2003, <a href="/facts/Charles_Schwab_Corporation/tVpyMcVP">Charles Schwab</a> announced the acquisition of SoundView for $15.50 per share, or approximately $345 million.  The acquisition was intended to integrate SoundView's <a href="/facts/Equity_research/7R9dzSRd">equity research</a> content with Charles Schwab's trading execution capabilities.  SoundView received a 57% premium to its market price before the announcement.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
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<h3>2011 sale of trademarks</h3>
<p>In 2011, the SoundView trademarks were acquired by one of the SoundView partners to begin building a new SoundView Technology Group.
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<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Wit SoundView buys E*Trade's E*Offering <a href="http://news.cnet.com/Wit-Soundview-buys-ETrade039s-EOffering/2100-12_3-262640.html" target="_blank">http://news.cnet.com/Wit-Soundview-buys-ETrade039s-EOffering/2100-12_3-262640.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>WIT CAPITAL WILL PURCHASE SOUNDVIEW TECHNOLOGY.  New York Times, November 2, 1999(subscription required) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/02/business/company-news-wit-capital-will-purchase-soundview-technology.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/02/business/company-news-wit-capital-will-purchase-soundview-technology.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Wit Capital buys SoundView Technology, stock jumps". CNET. Retrieved 2019-01-09. <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/wit-capital-buys-soundview-technology-stock-jumps/" target="_blank">https://www.cnet.com/news/wit-capital-buys-soundview-technology-stock-jumps/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>GOLDMAN SACHS SELLS 10% STAKE IN SOUNDVIEW.  New York Times, December 5, 2001(subscription required) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/05/business/company-news-goldman-sachs-sells-10-stake-in-soundview.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/05/business/company-news-goldman-sachs-sells-10-stake-in-soundview.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Schwab to Acquire SoundView Technology Group.  November 19, 2003 <a href="http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-19-2003/0002061448&EDATE=" target="_blank">http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-19-2003/0002061448&EDATE=</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>SCHWAB TO BUY SOUNDVIEW FOR $321 MILLION.  New York Times, November 20, 2003(subscription required) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/20/business/company-news-schwab-to-buy-soundview-for-321-million.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/20/business/company-news-schwab-to-buy-soundview-for-321-million.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

SoundView Technology Group open-in-new

SoundView Technology Group