Abigail Johnson, who became president of Fidelity Investments a year ago, is in charge of “a very different Fidelity” from the one started by her grandfather,
Bloomberg Markets Magazine
reported.
The firm under her grandfather “was the nation’s biggest mutual-fund company,” the
Bloomberg Markets
article said. “Under her father, Edward C. Johnson III, known as Ned, Fidelity has surrendered its leadership and much of its iconic status as a money manager,” the article said.
While fees for investing client money in Fidelity funds generate less than half of the firm’s revenue, it has become the largest U.S. administrator of 401(k) plans and one of the largest discount brokers, offering other funds besides its own, the
Bloomberg Markets
report said.
Abigail Johnson “has said nothing publicly about her vision or goals for the company,” the article said. She has not indicated that she intends to change her father’s emphasis on administering brokerage accounts, pensions and 401(k)s, the report noted.
Morningstar Inc. analyst Don Phillips told Bloomberg: “I don’t know that Abby needs to reinvent the business the way her grandfather or father did. What’s required is a sense of stewardship and a long-term view, which I do think she brings to the table.”
Bloomberg Markets
noted that Abigail Johnson owns about half the family’s shares in Fidelity’s holding company. The family’s stake totals 49%; former and current employees hold the rest. “No one outside the family is in a position to dislodge Johnson,” the article said. (Source:
Bloomberg Markets,
Oct. 8, 2013.)
-
1222 reads