Which investment bank became the first publicly traded Wall Street firm in 1970?

Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette became the first publicly traded Wall Street investment bank in 1970.

Founded in New York in 1959 by William H. Donaldson, Dan Lufkin, and Richard Jenrette, DLJ initially built its reputation through independent, high-quality investment research for institutional clients. At the time, major Wall Street securities firms were generally organized as private partnerships, whose ownership was limited to partners and approved members.

A change in New York Stock Exchange rules allowed member firms to sell shares publicly. DLJ took advantage of that opening and marketed its own stock, giving the firm access to outside capital and making its owners accountable to public shareholders. This helped begin Wall Street’s transition from private partnerships to publicly owned corporations.

DLJ later expanded into underwriting, sales and trading, financial advice, merchant banking, and high-yield bonds. It was acquired by The Equitable in 1985 and ultimately by Credit Suisse in 2000 for approximately $11.5 billion. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were still private partnerships when DLJ went public; both converted to public ownership much later.