Who founded the Vanguard Group?

John C. Bogle founded The Vanguard Group. He established the investment company in 1975 after restructuring the mutual-fund business he had inherited from Wellington Management.

Bogle’s ideas grew from his 1951 Princeton thesis, which argued that mutual funds often failed to outperform broad market indexes after expenses. He believed investors would benefit from simple, diversified funds with very low fees. Vanguard’s unusual ownership structure—its funds own the company, and fund investors therefore indirectly own Vanguard—reflects that investor-first philosophy.

Bogle also helped bring index investing to ordinary savers. In 1976, Vanguard launched the First Index Investment Trust, later known as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, designed to track the S&P 500. Critics initially mocked it as “Bogle’s Folly,” but index funds eventually became a dominant investment vehicle.

A common mix-up is confusing Bogle with Walter L. Morgan, who founded the Wellington Fund, or with investment figures such as Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch. They were influential investors, not Vanguard’s founder.