Franklin Templeton Investments

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Franklin Resources Inc.
Franklin Templeton
TypePublic company
NYSE: BEN
S&P 500 Component
IndustryFinancial services
FoundedNew York City, U.S. (1947)
FounderRupert H. Johnson, Sr.
HeadquartersSan Mateo, California
Key people
Jennifer M. Johnson (President and CEO)
Gregory E. Johnson (Executive Chairman of the Board)
Rupert H. Johnson Jr. (Vice Chairman
ProductsMutual funds,
Retirement Planning
RevenueDecrease US$ 5.566 Billion (2020)[1]
Decrease US$ 1.491 Billion (2020)[1]
Decrease US$ 798.9 Million (2020)[1]
AUMIncrease US$ 1.418 trillion (2020)[2]
Total assetsIncrease US$ 20.22 billion (2020)[1]
Total equityDecrease US$ 9.9 billion (2019)[3]
Number of employees
Increase 11,800 (2020)
Websitewww.franklintempleton.com

Franklin Resources Inc. is an American multinational holding company that, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to as Franklin Templeton; it is a global investment firm founded in New York City in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BEN, in honor of Benjamin Franklin, 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. As of October 12, 2020, Franklin Templeton held US$1.4 trillion in assets under management (AUM) on behalf of private, professional and institutional investors.[4]

History[]

The company was founded in 1947 in New York by Rupert H. Johnson, Sr., who ran a successful retail brokerage firm from an office on Wall Street.[5] He named the company for American polymath Benjamin Franklin because Franklin espoused frugality and prudence when it came to saving and investing.[6] 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.[7] Rupert Johnson, Jr., Charlie's brother, joined the company in 1965.[8]

Franklin went public in 1971.[9] In 1973, the company acquired Winfield & Company, a San Mateo, California-based investment firm, and moved Franklin's offices from New York 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 pioneer Sir John Templeton 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.[10]

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.[11]

Fiduciary Trust Company International, a member of the Franklin family, maintained an office of over 650 employees in Two World Trade Center at the time of the September 11 attacks in 2001.[12] 87 employees died in the collapse.[13][14]

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, and 7th overall among securities companies.[15] The same month, USA Today listed BEN stock as the top stock pick for the last 25 years based on returns, claiming it is up 64,224% since 1982.[16] As of July 31, 2008, Franklin Resources, Inc. managed over $570 billion in total assets worldwide.[17] In February 2009, Barron's Magazine called Franklin Templeton "King of the Decade" among fund families over the ten-year period ending in 2008.[18]

In 2013, Charles Johnson retired as chairman and his son Greg Johnson became chairman of the board, CEO and president.[19]

In 2019, the firm acquired Benefit Street Partners, an alternative credit investment group.[20]

In 2020, Jennifer M. Johnson became CEO and President of the firm and Greg Johnson became Executive Chairman.

In July 2020, Franklin Templeton acquired Legg Mason, Inc. 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.[21]

Mutual funds[]

Franklin Templeton has over 455 different open-ended mutual funds and 7 closed-end funds in the fund family. Included in these are 27 state and federal tax-free income funds, an area of investment pioneered by Franklin.[22]

Prominent funds in the fund family include the Templeton Growth Fund, Inc. (opened 1954, $8.8 billion in AUM.[when?], the Mutual Shares fund (opened 1949, $7.9bn assets[when?]), and the Mutual Discovery Fund (opened 1992, $14.5 billion assets[when?]) and the Templeton Growth (Euro) Fund A (acc) ($6.2bn assets[when?]).

The Franklin Income Fund (FKINX, assets $61.1 billion[when?] is a mutual fund in Morningstar's "conservative allocation" category and "large/value" style box. The fund was created in 1948 and has paid uninterrupted dividends for 60 years. The Franklin Income Fund is constructed primarily of dividend-paying stocks and bonds (2%).

Franklin Templeton was named the world's worst-selling retail fund manager for 2020 after investors pulled almost $50bn in the year from its funds.[23]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Franklin Templeton: 2020 Annual Report". Franklin Templeton. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  2. ^ "Franklin Resources, Inc. Announces Month-End Assets Under Management" (ASPX). October 12, 2020.
  3. ^ "Investing in Progress" (XBRL). November 13, 2018.
  4. ^ "Franklin Resources, Inc. Announces Month-End Assets Under Management". franklinresources.com. October 12, 2020.
  5. ^ Eric John Abrahamson and Grant Alger, Persistence and Perspective: Franklin Templeton Investments: The First Sixty Years (San Mateo: Franklin Resources, Inc., 2007, xvii
  6. ^ Knapp, Gwen (29 September 2012). "Charles Johnson, top Giants owner, keeps low profile". San Francisco Gate. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  7. ^ Ravani, Sarah (19 October 2018). "SF Giants owner gave $1K to PAC behind racist ad targeting black voters". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  8. ^ Forbes: The World's Billionaires: "Rupert Johnson Jr." April 2015
  9. ^ Alden, William (30 September 2013). "Mutual Fund Billionaire Gives $250 Million to Yale". DealBook. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  10. ^ "Franklin to acquire Templeton mutual fund"Business Times (August 3, 1992) Archived March 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Eric John Abrahamson and Grant Alger, Persistence and Perspective: Franklin Templeton Investments: The First Sixty Years (San Mateo: Franklin Resources, Inc., 2007)
  12. ^ Franklin Templeton Archived July 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Update on employees and operations. September 13, 2001
  13. ^ Franklin Templeton Archived November 25, 2004, at the Wayback Machine Quarterly earnings press release. October 25, 2001.
  14. ^ "A Look at Former World Trade Center Tenants". The Wall Street Journal. Jan 18, 2002. Archived from the original on July 31, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  15. ^ CNN Money Fortune 500 snapshot, April 2007.
  16. ^ USA Today If Only I Had Bought, April 16, 2007.
  17. ^ Franklin Templeton Press release. August 11, 2008.
  18. ^ Barron's. The Best Families in a Bruising Year by Tom Sullivan. February 2, 2009.
  19. ^ Alden, William (30 September 2013). "Mutual Fund Billionaire Gives $250 Million to Yale". DealBook. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  20. ^ "Franklin Templeton Investments Announces Acquisition of Alternative Credit Manager Benefit Street Partners". 25 October 2018.
  21. ^ "Franklin Templeton Completes Acquisition of Legg Mason". Franklin Resources. 2020-07-31.
  22. ^ "Mutual Funds Price and Performance | Franklin Templeton". www.franklintempleton.com.
  23. ^ "Franklin Templeton named worst-selling fund manager of 2020". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2021-02-02.

External links[]

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