Not so venerable any more

These aren’t fly-by-night companies going under, being sold, or in danger.

  • Henry, Emanuel and Mayer Lehman founded their firm in 1850.
  • WaMu began as The Washington National Building Loan and Investment Association in 1889.
  • Merrill Lynch began as Charles E. Merrill & Co. in 1914. Edmund C. Lynch joined the firm in that first year and it became Merrill Lynch in 1915.
  • AIG began selling insurance in Shaghai, China, in 1919.

They all made it through 1929.