This article is about the financial services company. For electronic trading, seeElectronic trading platform. For East Trade Street in Charlotte, North Carolina, seeTrade Street.
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E-Trade logo from February 3, 2008, to December 31, 2021
In 1982, physicistWilliam A. Porter andBernard A. Newcomb founded TradePlus inPalo Alto, California, with $15,000 in capital. In 1983, it launched its first trade via aCompuserve network. In 1992, Porter and Newcomb founded E-Trade and made electronic trading available to individual investors.[3]
On August 16, 1996, the company (by then known as theE-Trade Financial Corporation) became apublic company via aninitial public offering. The company sold 5,665,000 shares of its common stock for $10.50 per share under the stock ticker "ETFC" on theNASDAQ stock exchange.[4] The company figured prominently in thedot-com boom, as both a way to speculate in internet stocks and an internet stock itself.
In March 2008, E-Trade named Donald Layton, formerlyJPMorgan Chase vice chairman, its new CEO. Layton had joined E-Trade's board of directors in November 2007, at the same time as theCitadel LLC deal.[11][12][13]
In December 2009, Robert Druskin, a former chief operating officer ofCitigroup, was named interim CEO and chairman.[14]
On March 22, 2010, Steven Freiberg was named CEO. Freiberg was the former co-CEO of Citigroup's global consumer group and the former head of its credit card unit.[15][16]
On January 17, 2013, Paul T. Idzik was appointed CEO. Idzik had previously been group chief executive ofDTZ and also served ten years atBarclays bank.[17]
In September 2016, Karl A. Roessner, E-Trade's general counsel since 2009, was appointed CEO.[18]
On August 14, 2019, Michael Pizzi was appointed CEO.[19]
In 2007, E-Trade introduced its talking baby campaign in which comedianPete Holmes was the voice of the baby andSteve Burns was the voice of the announcer.[20]