Franklin Resources

Franklin Templeton Investments

Gain from our perspective
San Mateo headquarters
Type	Public company
Traded as	: BEN S&P 500 Component
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	New York City, U.S. (1947)
Headquarters	San Mateo, California
Key people	Greg Johnson (CEO) Rupert Johnson, Jr. Vice Chairman Jennifer M. Johnson President
Products	Mutual funds, Retirement Planning
Revenue	US$ 7.985 billion (2013) US$ 7.101 billion (2012)
Operating income	US$ 2.9213 billion (2013) US$ 2.5152 billion (2012)
Net income	US$ 2.1502 billion (2013) US$ 1.9314 billion (2012)
Total assets	US$ 15.3903 billion (2013) US$ 14.7515 billion (2012)
Total equity	US$ 10.6855 billion (2013) US$ 9.7605 billion (2012)
Number of employees	9,000 (2014)
Website	franklintempleton.com

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 founded in New York City in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the under the ticker symbol BEN, in honor of Benjamin Franklin, for whom the company is named, and 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).

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 polymath Benjamin Franklin because Franklin espoused 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.

After Rupert Sr. retired, his son, Charles B. Johnson (Charlie), took over as president and chief executive officer in 1957 at age 24. There were only a handful of employees at that time and the funds had total assets under management of US$2.5 million.

By the early 1960s the company was growing, albeit slowly. It was a struggle to keep up with the day-to-day demands of the business and Charlie continued to wear many hats—mutual fund manager, wholesaler, accountant. Rupert Johnson, Jr., Charlie's brother, joined the company in 1965 and also took on multiple roles.

Franklin went public in 1971, which gave Charlie and team the capital needed to grow the business and position it for the future. In 1973, the company acquired Winfield & Company, a San Mateo, California-based investment firm, and moved Franklin's offices from New York to California. The combined organization had close to US$250 million in assets under management and approximately 60 employees. In 1979, Franklin Money Fund (not available to UK investors) began a growth surge that made it Franklin's first billion-dollar fund and launched the company's significant asset in the 1980s.