The History of Corporate

The History of the Large Company Model

Bank of America

Company: Bank of America (Founded as “Bank of Italy”)

Founders:

Industry: Finance, Banking

History:

Following several historical merges, the Bank of America has become one of the most well-known banks in the world. The largest merger was with the Bank of Italy, founded by Amadeo Giannini in San Francisco in 1904.

The founder and President of Bank of America, Orra E. Monnette, agreed to the merging of the companies in 1929. The merger operated under the name Bank America with Giannini at the helm and Monnette as the co-Chair.

In 1958, the bank harnessed the technology that lets credit cars to be linked directly to bank accounts by introducing BankAmericard. (This was the progenitor of VISA.)

BankAmerica first expanded the borders of California with its acquisition of Seattle-based Seafirst Corporation in 1983.

In 1992, the company acquired its rival, Security Pacific Corporation along with the latter’s subsidiary, Security Pacific National Bank in California and other banks situated in Idaho, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon. At the time, the acquisition was the largest in history. In late 1992, BankAmerica extended into Nevada by acquiring Valley Bank of Nevada.

In 1994, BankAmerica acquired Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. from the federal government.

In 1998, the company was purchased by NationsBank, which moved the headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. BankAmerica suffered serious losses when D. E. Shaw & Co. was not able to pay back the large hedge fund it loaned. NationsBank structured the purchase as a merger and renamed the merged company the Bank of America Corporation. The resulting company had assets totaling $570 billion, with 4,800 branches situated across 22 states.

As of 2006 the company had a net income of $21.3 billion and 203,425 workers under its employ. By market capitalization and deposits, it is currently the largest bank in the United States.

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