S&P 500
7,539.80
0.00%
Dow Jones
50,757.00
+0.11%
Nasdaq 100
30,462.60
-0.01%
Russell 2000
2,896.67
+0.30%
FTSE 100
10,299.70
-0.09%
Nikkei 225
67,281.70
-1.14%

Banking, finance, and taxes

TD Ameritrade (AMTD) Eying E*Trade (ETFC) Buy-Out?

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published

The head of TD Ameritrade (AMTD) today indicated that his firm might have an interest in buying troubled discount broker E*Trade. AMTD might get quite a deal  "We like their retail business but we must figure out a way that makes sense for both sets of shareholders," the AMTD told CNBC according to a report at MarketWatch.

Could E*Trade’s brokerage clients be separated from it banking unit? The mortgage-related problems in he company’s banking business are what caused the large write-offs that have taken ETFC’s shares down.

TD Ameritrade currently has a market cap of $11.6 billion to E*Trade’s $2.3 billion. If ETFC could spin-off the brokerage business and merge it into AMTD, it might have a valuable asset to give its shareholders–TD Ameritrade shares. But, it would take a fair amount of financial engineering to set the banking business up on its own. Its value in the market is probably nil.

But, if E*Trade’s troubles continue, moving its shareholders into AMTD stock might be the safest haven the company can find for them.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Continue Reading

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Citadel Saves E*Trade With Huge Investment

E*Trade (ETFC), the big discount broker, was in such bad shape that the market thought a firm like TD Ameritrade…

Jon C. Ogg |

Selecting A Peak Buyout Price for E*TRADE (ETFC, AMTD, SCHW, GS, MS)

24/7 Wall St. has long considered E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) as a buyout candidate in the world of online…

Jon C. Ogg |

Beyond Citadel, There Is Long-Term Value in E*Trade

Wikimedia CommonsIt is probably of little comfort to existing shareholders that Citadel Investment Group is selling its remaining stake in…

Have Online Brokers Been Overly Punished Around Brexit and Rates Being Lower For Longer?
Jon C. Ogg |

Have Online Brokers Been Overly Punished Around Brexit and Rates Being Lower For Longer?

Many investors have been complaining for years that it is just too hard to make money off of their investment…

Did the Right Company Buy E*Trade?
Paul Ausick |

Did the Right Company Buy E*Trade?

Morgan Stanley announced Thursday that it has agreed to acquire E*Trade in an all-stock transaction valued at $13 billion.

Jon C. Ogg |

What the Latest Trading Metrics Mean for Potential Online Brokerage Mergers

24/7 Wall St. wanted to see how the major online and discount brokerages now stack up against each other in…

Jon C. Ogg |

The Case For an E*Trade Buyout Ahead (ETFC, AMTD, SCHW)

It has been a week since E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) reported earnings.  We have also seen earnings this week…

Jon C. Ogg |

E*TRADE Can’t Find M&A (ETFC, GS, SCHW, AMTD, MS)

E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) was one we had on the calendar because this was the day that it was…

Jon C. Ogg |

E*TRADE’s Secondary Drop Is Actually Good For Holders (ETFC, SCHW, AMTD, MS, GS)

E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) is getting hit hard today on news that Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group has sold…

Top Gaining Stocks

Texas Pacific Land
TPL • Vol: 485,229
Moderna
MRNA • Vol: 6,929,589
Incyte
INCY • Vol: 2,269,213
United Rentals
URI • Vol: 860,132
Medtronic
MDT • Vol: 20,284,124

Top Losing Stocks

Coterra Energy
CTRA • Vol: 73,319,495
Global Payments
GPN • Vol: 11,471,568
Charter Communications
CHTR • Vol: 4,395,420
ServiceNow
NOW • Vol: 34,312,777
IBM
IBM • Vol: 13,892,615