Schwab’s Deal to Buy TD Ameritrade Boosts Billionaire Founders
Schwab’s Deal to Buy TD Ameritrade Boosts Billionaire Owners
(Bloomberg) -- Charles Schwab Corp.’s plan to buy TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. for $26 billion is proving a boon for the fortunes anchored by two of America’s biggest brokerages.
TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts is set to add $400 million to his $2.4 billion net worth after his firm’s shares rose 21% in Thursday. Charles Schwab’s $8.8 billion fortune will increase by about $500 million based on his company’s gains. The deal is worse news for Thomas Peterffy, chairman of rival Interactive Brokers Group Inc., whose net worth was down about $100 million at 11:50 a.m. in New York.
The transaction could be announced as early as Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. It would create a firm with roughly $5 trillion in combined assets, consolidating an industry under pressure from a price war that escalated when Schwab last month announced plans to eliminate commissions for U.S. stocks, exchange traded funds and options.
The combination may pose a threat to fund managers such as Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock Inc., according to Bill Capuzzi, chief executive officer of Apex Clearing, a custodian that focuses on fintech firms.
“It signals Schwab is going to continue to lean really hard into the advisory side,” he said. “A gigantic percentage of the advisory world will be leveraging one firm for passive custody and clearing services.”
For Schwab, the net worth gain may be particularly sweet. In an October interview, he criticized wealth taxes like those proposed by Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as a “negative reward for success.”
Other winners from the potential acquisition include Toronto-Dominion Bank, which owns 43% of TD Ameritrade, and Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial Inc. with a 3.9% position as of Sept. 30. Generation Investment Management LLP, the firm co-founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, owned a 2% stake in Schwab at the end of the third quarter.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Metcalf in London at tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, ;Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill
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