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Franklin Resources, Inc. is an American multinational
investment management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various Security (finance), securities, including shareholdings, Bond (finance), bonds, and other assets, such as r ...
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
that, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to as Franklin Templeton; it is a global
investment firm An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...
founded in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
under the
ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded Share (finance), shares of a particular stock or Security (finance), security on a particular stock exchange. Ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols ...
BEN, in honor of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
, for whom the company is named, and who was admired by founder Rupert Johnson Sr. In 1973, the company's headquarters moved from New York to
San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...
.


History

The company was founded in 1947 in New York by Rupert H. (Harris) Johnson Sr. (1900–1989), who ran a successful retail brokerage firm from an office on Wall Street. He named the company for American polymath
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
because Franklin espoused frugality and prudence when it came to saving and investing. The company's first line of mutual funds, Franklin Custodian Funds, was a series of conservatively managed equity and bond funds designed to appeal to most investors. After Rupert Sr. retired, his son, Charles B. Johnson (Charlie), took over as president and chief executive officer in 1957 at age 24. At that time, the funds had total assets under management of US$2.5 million. Rupert Johnson Jr., Charlie's brother, joined the company in 1965. Franklin went public in 1971. In 1973, the company acquired Winfield & Company, a San Mateo, California-based investment firm, and moved Franklin's offices from
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
to California. The combined organization had close to US$250 million in assets under management and approximately 60 employees. In 1979, Franklin Money Fund began a growth surge that made it Franklin's first billion-dollar fund and launched the company's significant asset growth in the 1980s. Starting in 1980, the company's total assets under management doubled (or nearly doubled) every year for the next six years. The company's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986. In the same year, the company opened its first office outside North America in Taiwan. In 1988, Franklin acquired L.F. Rothschild Fund Management Company. Assets under management for Franklin grew from just over US$2 billion in 1982 to more than US$40 billion in 1989 (the crash of 1987 had little impact on Franklin's income and bond funds). In October 1992, Franklin acquired Templeton, Galbraith & Hansberger Ltd. for a reported cost of $913 million, leading to the common name Franklin Templeton.
Mutual fund A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase Security (finance), securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in ...
pioneer
Sir John Templeton Sir John Marks Templeton (29 November 1912 – 8 July 2008) was an American-born British investor, banker, fund manager, and philanthropist. In 1954, he entered the mutual fund market and created the Templeton Growth Fund, which averaged gro ...
was the owner of Templeton, Galbraith & Hansberger Ltd together with his son Dr. John Templeton and John Galbraith who together owned 70% of the firm. In November 1996, Heine Securities Corporation, known for the Mutual Series of funds, merged into the Franklin Templeton complex. In October 2000, Franklin acquired Bissett Funds to increase its Canadian presence, and Bissett remains a key brand from Franklin in the Canadian market. The Fiduciary Trust Company was acquired by Franklin Templeton in April 2001. Fiduciary Trust Company International, a member of the Franklin family, maintained an office of over 650 employees in
2 World Trade Center 2 World Trade Center (2 WTC; also known as 200 Greenwich Street) is a skyscraper being developed as part of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City. It will replace the original 2 World Trade Center, which was compl ...
at the time of the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
in 2001. 87 employees died in the collapse. The firm has specialized expertise across a full range of asset classes. It offers products under the Franklin, Templeton, Mutual Series and Fiduciary brand names, among others. Like other large investment companies, the firm offers a wide variety of funds but is traditionally best known for bond funds under the Franklin brand, international funds under the Templeton brand, and value funds under the Mutual Series brand. In April 2007, Franklin Resources was 445th in the
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
, and 7th overall among securities companies. The same month, ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' listed BEN stock as the top stock pick for the last 25 years based on returns, claiming it is up 64,224% since 1982. As of July 31, 2008, Franklin Resources, Inc. managed over $570 billion in total assets worldwide. In February 2009, ''
Barron's Magazine ''Barron's'' (stylized in all caps) is an American weekly magazine and newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp, since 1921. Founded as ''Barron's National Financial Weekly'' in 1921 by Clarence W. Barron (1855–19 ...
'' called Franklin Templeton "King of the Decade" among fund families over the ten-year period ending in 2008. In 2013, Charles Johnson retired as chairman and his son Greg Johnson became chairman of the board, CEO and president. In 2019, the firm acquired Benefit Street Partners, an alternative credit investment group. In 2020, Jenny Johnson became CEO and President of the firm and Greg Johnson became Executive chairman. In July 2020, Franklin Templeton acquired Legg Mason, Inc. and its multiple specialist investment managers, establishing Franklin Templeton as one of the world's largest independent, specialized global investment managers with a combined $1.4 trillion in assets under management (AUM) across one of the broadest ranges of high-quality investment teams in the industry. The combined footprint significantly deepens Franklin Templeton's presence in key geographies and creates an expansive investment platform that is well balanced between institutional and retail client AUM. In November 2021, Franklin Templeton announced its acquisition of
Lexington Partners Lexington Partners is one of the largest manager of secondary acquisition and co-Investment funds in the world, founded in 1994. Lexington manages approximately $55 billion of which an unprecedented $14 billion was committed to the firm's ninth ...
in a $1.75billion cash deal. The acquisition completed in April 2022. In January 2022, Franklin Templeton acquired O'Shaughnessy Asset Management, an asset management firm founded by James O'Shaughnessy. On May 31, 2022, it was announced that
BNY Mellon Investment Management BNY Investments is the investment management division of BNY. It is one of the largest asset managers in the world. BNY Investments operates a multi-boutique model where individual investment managers operate largely autonomously under it. ...
would sell Alcentra to Franklin Templeton. The transaction was completed on November 1, 2022. On May 31, 2023,
Great-West Lifeco Great-West Lifeco Inc. is a Canadian insurance-centered financial holding company that operates in North America (Canada and United States), Europe and Asia through five wholly owned, regionally focused subsidiaries. Many of the companies it has ...
announced that Franklin Templeton would acquire
Putnam Investments Putnam Investments is an investment management firm founded in 1937 by George Putnam, who established one of the first balanced mutual funds, The George Putnam Fund of Boston. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, it has offices in London, To ...
for $925 million. Putnam Investments subsidiary, PanAgora Asset Management would not be included in the acquisition. The deal was completed in January 2024. In August 2023,
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...
reported that Franklin Templeton executives in China were mandated to attend courses on
Xi Jinping Thought Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, commonly abbreviated outside China as Xi Jinping Thought, is a political doctrine created during General Secretary Xi Jinping's leadership of the Chinese Communist ...
.


Mutual funds and ETFs

Franklin Templeton has 455 open-ended mutual funds and seven
closed-end fund A closed-end fund (CEF), also known as a closed-end mutual fund, is an investment vehicle fund that raises capital by issuing a fixed number of shares at its inception, and then invests that capital in financial assets such as stocks and bonds. ...
s. Included in these are 27 state and federal tax-free income funds, an area of investment pioneered by Franklin. Prominent funds include the Templeton Growth Fund, Inc. (opened 1954), the Mutual Shares fund (opened 1949), and the Mutual Discovery Fund (opened 1992) and the Templeton Growth (Euro) Fund. The Franklin Income Fund (FKINX) is a
mutual fund A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase Security (finance), securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in ...
in Morningstar's "conservative allocation" category and "large/value" style box. The fund was created in 1948 and has paid uninterrupted
dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...
s for 60 years. The Franklin Income Fund is constructed primarily of dividend-paying stocks and bonds (2%). Franklin Templeton launched its first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2013. By 2021, these included 55 active, smart beta/multifactor and passively managed ETFs in the U.S, with US$9.7 billion in assets under management. In 2021, Franklin Templeton launched the first "tokenised" US mutual fund as a pilotit uses a
blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...
to process transactions and record share ownership. The technology is provided by the Stellar network and Blockchain Administrator, a Delaware company. The OnChain US Government Money Fund pilot started with $1.4M of seed money and investment from employees. The automated administration can trade around the clock and removes the need for brokerages, which should result in a "highly significant decrease in fees". However, the fund actually has a high level of costs because of its small size and the fact that, as a pilot, it is maintaining traditional records in parallel.


See also


References


External links

*
Fiduciary Trust memorial page
for employees who died in 9-11 {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin Templeton Investment management companies of the United States Mutual funds of the United States Holding companies of the United States Companies based in San Mateo, California Financial services companies based in California American companies established in 1947 Financial services companies established in 1947 Holding companies established in 1947 1947 establishments in New York City Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats 1970s initial public offerings Asset management companies