Fidelity Investments

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Fidelity Investments

Founded	1930
Headquarters	Boston, MA
Key People	Chairman and CEO Edward Crosby ("Ned") Johnson III
Products	Retail investment products and services
Web site	https://www.fidelity.com/

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Fidelity Investments is the largest mutual-fund provider in the U.S. but in recent years has expanded beyond this base by offering investors a broad array of investment products. Its most famous fund manager was the legendary Peter Lynch of the Magellan Fund.

History

The Fidelity Fund was founded in 1930 and acquired by Edward C. ("Mister") Johnson II in 1943. Three years later Johnson launched the Fidelity Management & Research Co. (FMR) as an investment adviser to the fund.^[1] 1957 his son, Edward C. Johnson III, joined Fidelity as a research analyst and succeeded his father at the helm in 1972. The firm has grown since then to reach $1 trillion in assets under management.

Products and Services

Fidelity Investments manages stock funds, index funds, asset-allocation funds and bond funds that are rated four-star or five-star by ratings agency Morningstar.^[2] Those funds fall into the following categories:

Domestic equity
International equity
Specialty/sector equity
Real estate equity
Stock index
Bond index
Asset allocation
Life-cycle
Hybrid
Taxable bond
High yield bond
International bond
National municipal bond
State municipal bond

One Up On Wall Street

The former manager of Fidelity's high-growth Magellan Fund from 1977-1990, Peter Lynch, has become one of the world's best-known fund managers thanks to the phenomenal success of his stock-market investing guidebook One Up On Wall Street.^[3] Lynch and Fidelity recently made news of a different sort when it was revealed that he and other personnel received perks like tickets to Boston Red Sox games and U2 concerts from brokers apparently looking to build transaction commissions.^[4]

Key People

Fidelity Investments Chairman and CEO Edward Crosby Johnson III, also known as Ned, managed Fidelity's flagship Magellan fund from 1965 until 1972, when he took the reins as president of Fidelity Investments. The 77-year-old Johnson and his family still hold 49 percent of Fidelity, and Johnson, with a net worth of $6.5 billion, was recently #33 on the Forbes 400 richest Americans list.^[5] Forbes called Johnson "famously frugal" and a "phenomenal stock-picker" who still questions his fund managers on their picks. Since taking the helm, the younger Johnson has broadened Fidelity's base of funds by investment strategy and has successfully marketed them to a wider retail investor base. He has also insisted on keeping Fidelity private to shield it from short-term market pressures and allow it to make long-term investment decisions in technology.

Latest News

Fidelity Investments recently completed its third round of layoffs from non-investment jobs in eight months, this time an unspecified number in the Boston area. In January 2008 Fidelity cut 250 jobs after lopping 200 two months earlier.^[6]