J. P. Morgan & Co.

J.P. Morgan & Co.

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Investment banking, commercial banking, asset management
Fate	Merged with Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000
Founded	1871 (1871)
Founder	J.P Morgan
Headquarters	New York City, New York, US
Number of employees	26,314 (2010)
Parent	JPMorgan Chase
Website	JPMorgan.com

J.P. Morgan & Co. is a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by John Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the "House of Morgan" or simply "Morgan". The firm is a predecessor of three of the largest banking institutions in the United States and globally, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank (via Morgan, Grenfell & Co.).

In 2000, J.P. Morgan & Co. merged with Chase Manhattan Bank to form JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the largest global banking institutions. Today, the "J.P. Morgan" brand is used to market certain JPMorgan Chase wholesale businesses, including investment banking, commercial banking and asset management. The J.P. Morgan branding was revamped in 2008 to return to its more traditional appearance after several years of depicting the "Chase" symbol to the right of a condensed and modernized "JPMorgan".

Between 1959 and 1989, J.P. Morgan operated as the Morgan Guaranty Trust, following its merger with the Guaranty Trust Company of New York.

The origins of the firm date back to 1854 when Junius S. Morgan joined George Peabody & Co. (which became Peabody, Morgan & Co.), a London-based banking business headed by George Peabody. Junius took control of the firm, changing its name to J.S. Morgan & Co. in 1864 on Peabody's retirement. Junius's son, J. Pierpont Morgan, first apprenticed at Duncan, Sherman and Company in the New York City, then founded his own firm with a cousin, J. Pierpont Morgan & Company, in 1864. J. Pierpont Morgan & Company traded in government bonds and foreign exchange. It also acted as an agent for Peabody’s. Junius, however, considered some of Pierpont’s ventures to be highly speculative. So, Pierpont took on a more senior partner and the firm was known first as Dabney, Morgan and Company (beginning in 1864), then "Drexel, Morgan & Co." (in 1871). In these firms, Pierpont used his Peabody connection to bring British financial capital together with rapidly growing U.S. industrial firms, such as railroads, who needed financial capital. The Drexel of Drexel, Morgan & Co. was Philadelphia banker Anthony J. Drexel, founder of what is now Drexel University.