MERRILL LYNCH owned stock certificate - WACHOVIA bank Start Price USD 39.95 Current Price USD 39.95 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Monday, September 29, 2008 End Time Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Location Richmond See more about 'MERRILL LYNCH owned stock certificate - WACHOVIA bank' Description Merrill LynchIssued Stock Certificate This is an authentic stock certificate issued to Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith for shares in the Wachovia Corporation.  Nice condition with no folds.  Nice vignette at the top seated allegorical female holding a globe in front of city and country scenes. Both Merrill Lynch and Wachovia were just bought out, victims of the recent financial crisis.  Great souvenir of both companies!  This is a rare find on one certificate! We are offering fixed price on our Merrill-owned stocks so you don't have to wait for bidding (or overpay). We are offering good prices since we are fortunate to have a few Merrill-owned pieces from our large inventory. Please check out our other auction for more Merrill Lynch-owned stocks (Lehman Brother also!) Check out my other items! This is a rare opportunity to get a real stock certificate as a memento of the company.   Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. is a global financial services firm. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, the company provides capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, asset management, insurance, banking and related financial services worldwide. Merrill Lynch is headquartered in New York City, and occupies the entire 34 stories of the Four World Financial Center building in Manhattan. Plans were announced on 14 September 2008 for Bank of America to acquire Merrill Lynch, if approved by regulators and shareholders of both companies. Historical info:The company was founded on January 6, 1914, when Charles E. Merrill & Co. opened for business at 7 Wall Street in New York City. A few months later, Merrill's friend, Edmund C. Lynch, joined him, and in 1915 the name was officially changed to Merrill, Lynch & Co. In 1916, Winthrop H. Smith joined the firm.  In its early history, Merrill, Lynch & Co. made several successful investments. In 1921, the company purchased Pathé Exchange, which later became RKO Pictures. In 1926, the firm made its most significant financial investment at the time, purchasing a controlling interest in Safeway, transforming the small grocery store into the country's third largest grocery store chain by the early 1930s. In 1940, the firm merged with E. A. Pierce & Co. and Cassatt & Co. and was briefly known as Merrill Lynch, E. A. Pierce, and Cassatt. The company became the first on Wall Street to publish an annual fiscal report in 1941. Also in 1941, Fenner & Beane joined the firm, and the name became Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane. After Edmund Lynch's death in 1952, the company changed its name to Merrill Lynch & Co. and was officially incorporated.  The merger made the company the largest securities firm in the world, with offices in over 98 cities and membership on 28 exchanges. At the start of the firm's fiscal year on March 1, 1958, the firm's name became Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and the company became a Big Board member of the New York Stock Exchange. Merrill Lynch rose to prominence on the strength of its brokerage network, sometimes referred to as the "thundering herd", that allowed it to place securities it underwrote directly. In contrast, many established Wall Street firms, such as Morgan Stanley, relied on selling groups of independent brokers for placement of the securities they underwrote.  The firm went public in 1971 and has since become a multinational corporation with over US $1.8 trillion in client assets, operating in more than 40 countries around the world.  On November 1, 2007, Merrill Lynch CEO Stanley O'Neal left the company, after being criticized for the way he handled the subprime mortgage crisis and for discussing in public the possible merger with Wachovia, without being authorized by the board to do so. He left Merrill Lynch with about US $161 million worth of stock options and retirement benefits. John Thain, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, succeeded him as CEO on December 1, 2007.  On January 17, 2008, Merrill Lynch reported a $9.83 billion fourth quarter loss incorporating a $16.7 billion write down of assets associated with subprime mortgages. On April 17, 2008, Merrill Lynch reported a net loss of $1.97 billion for the first quarter of 2008. Merrill responded to its losses by raising capital through the sale of preferred shares, however experts suggest that such a strategy may pose a risk to the company's credit rating which could cause an increase to the company's borrowing costs.  In November of 2007, Merrill Lynch announced it would write-down $8.4 billion in losses associated with the national housing crisis and remove E. Stanley O'Neal as its chief executive. O'Neal had earlier approached a rival bank for a merger, but the talks ended after O'Neal's dismissal. In December 2007, the firm announced it would sell its commercial finance business to General Electric and sell off major shares of its stock to Temasek Holdings, a Singapore investment group, in an effort to raise capital. The deal raised over $6 billion. In July of 2008, the new CEO of Merrill Lynch, John Thain, announced $4.9 billion fourth quarter losses for the company from defaults and bad investments in the ongoing mortgage crisis. In one year between July 2007 and July 2008, Merrill Lynch lost $19.2 billion, or $52 million daily. The company's stock price had also declined significantly during that time.  Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General, threatened to sue Merrill Lynch in August 2008, over their misrepresentation of the risk on mortgage-back securities. A week earlier, Merrill Lynch had offered to buy back $12 billion in auction-rate debt and said they were surprised by the lawsuit. Three days later, the company froze hiring and revealed that they had charged almost $30 billion in losses to their subsidiary in the United Kingdom, exempting them from taxes in that country. On August 22, 2008, CEO John Thain announced an agreement with the Massachusetts Secretary of State to buy back all auction-rate securities from customers with less than $100 million in deposit with the firm, beginning in October 2008 and expanding in January 2009. On September 5, 2008 Goldman Sachs downgraded Merrill Lynch's stock to "conviction sell" and warned of further losses from the company. Bloomberg reported in September 2008 that Merrill Lynch had lost $51.8 billion in mortgage-backed securities as part of the subprime mortgage crisis. On September 14, 2008, Bank of America announced it was in talks to purchase Merrill Lynch for $38.25 billion in stock. The Wall Street Journal reported later that day that Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America for 0.8595 shares of Bank of America common stock for each Merrill Lynch common share, or about US$50 billion or $29 per share.  Wonderful and uncommon stock variety for a finance and investment company.  Makes a wonderful addition to any stock collection.  Perfect for framing!  Really an outstanding, uncommon collectible stock! Buyer to prepay for item and $7.00 shipping via USPS Priority Mail (fully insured). PayPal   is honored for all auctions!!!    I am a verified seller! PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a sample photo only. The certificate for sale has the same color, condition, and vignette.  Differences will be in date, marks,  serial number, and corporate officers unless otherwise noted.  The quality shipped will be the same or better than pictured.  Refund given if buyer is not satisfied.  Note that we cannot search for a specific date or name due to our large inventory.   Shipping costs are less than actual cost to us, the seller.  We ship by USPS Priority Mail for fast delivery times.  We use a custom-sized photo mailer with a custom, non-acid slip sleeve for protected shipping.  We allow for combined shipping to save the buyer money for multiple auction wins.  Please wait until all auctions are complete before sending payment. I will not know if you are continuing to bid so I ship when paid.  (If you pay early I will ship and cannot combine shipping on later auctions.)  Please include item numbers with payment for quick, positive feedback and accurate shipping.  Please send only one payment to avoid confusion.   Shipping to Canada or Europe is the same as US shipping. Shipping is not negotiable.  Do not ask to ship by other methods.  We do not deliver; we do not allow for pick-up; we do not ship overnight.  We only ship Priority Mail in the US due to better handling and delivery times. Again, our shipping fees are less than our actual costs (We can forward you the breakdown of costs in a templated response e-mail.)   Read the auction for the shipping fees before bidding. Satisfaction is guaranteed for any reason within 30 days.  Authenticity is guaranteed for life.  Refunds will be sent upon return of any unsatisfactory auction item.  If you do not return the item, I assume that you decided to keep it.  Please contact us directly for questions not explained here.   All certificates are only sold as collectibles.  No investment value is implied, transferred, or considered.  No transfer of securities is performed. Certificates are cancelled or obsolete.  (Now really, would I sell a $10,000 investment instrument for $10?)  We follow eBay rules on selling stock and bond certificates. We also comply with SEC regulations governing certificate sales and licensing requirements (we are not authorized to sell investments or securities under these rules.) Do not ask us to sell this at a reduced cost  --  use the bidding process.  The minimum price is stated in the auction; the shipping fee is also in the auction.  Please read the costs before bidding. Are these real?  -  YES!  We only sell authentic stocks and bonds that have been used in actual commerce or from company archives.  They have been cancelled and no longer have investment value but are still the real deal.  We do not sell copies.  Active companies (still trading) are also only sold as collectibles.  These have more recent dates due to the methods by which they were obtained. Where's the value in these?  -  Since these pieces no longer have investment value, aren't they worthless?  Literally, they are only worth the paper that they are printed on.  The same can be said for baseball cards and stamps but it is really the collectible value that makes these worthless securities desirable.  These are sold as collectibles or novelties only. Place a Bid!