Private limited liability partnership | |
Industry | Investment management |
Founded | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (1928) |
Headquarters |
Atlantic Wharf Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
Products | Investment management, Mutual funds |
AUM | $998 billion (2016) |
Website | www.wellington.com |
Wellington Management Company (WMC) is a private, independent investment management company. The firm has client assets under management totalling over US$998 billion, and serves as investment advisor for over 2,150 institutional clients in over 50 countries.
In 1928, Walter L. Morgan, a Philadelphia-based accountant, established the first balanced mutual fund in the United States, the Wellington Fund. Morgan established WMC despite the market crash of 1929. In the 1960s, four investment professionals, W. Nicholas Thorndike, Robert Doran, Stephen Paine, and George Lewis took the leadership of the firm and refocused the business. In 1979, 29 original partners bought back the firm—believing the private form of ownership to be in the best interests of clients.
The company's London office was opened in 1983, Singapore in 1996, Tokyo and Sydney in 1997, Hong Kong in 2003, and Beijing in 2007.
Wellington Management has a presence in nearly all sectors of the liquid, global securities markets. The Wellington Fund is one of the oldest surviving American mutual funds. John C. Bogle, who succeeded Morgan as chairman in 1970, later founded Vanguard funds. Wellington Management also manages the Wellesley Income Fund, which is more conservatively allocated than the Wellington Fund.
On November 23, 2010, Wellington Management Company turned over documents solicited by U.S. federal investigators regarding an alleged case of insider trading. Wellington directors delivered the unspecified documents to investigators; no comment was made by the company on the information delivered.