Franklin Templeton Investments

Franklin Resources Inc. is an American holding company that, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to as Franklin Templeton Investments; it is a global investment firm originally founded in New York in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the NYSE under the ticker BEN, in honor of Benjamin Franklin, who was admired by founder Rupert Johnson, Sr. In 1973 the company's headquarters moved from New York to San Mateo, California. Today, Franklin Templeton Investments is one of the world's largest asset management groups with over US$850 billion in assets under management (AUM) on behalf of over 25 million private, professional and institutional investors, as at September 30, 2014, up $29.7 billion or 4% during the 4th quarter (FY 2013).

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. He named the company for American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin because Franklin epitomised the ideas of frugality and prudence when it came to saving and investing. 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.