Incorporated in 1996

• E*Trade, as it is known today, began operations in 1996 when it was formally incorporated as E-Trade Group Inc. That same year, it became a publicly traded company. Robertson, Stephens and Company became the company's lead underwriter. The company name was changed in 2003 to E*Trade Financial Corporation.
  
  

Founder Started in 1982

• Although E*Trade started in 1996 as Americans began logging onto the Internet in droves, the company's origins actually can be traced as far back as 1982. Company founder William Porter joined forces that year with another entrepreneur, Bernard Newcomb, and started a stock trading company based in Palo Alto, California, known as PicoTrade.
  
  

New Company in 1991

• Porter used his assets from PicoTrade to form a new company, E-Trade Securities Inc., the forerunner to E-Trade Group Inc. The company's services were available on such early Internet providers as America Online and CompuServe. For the first time, investors were able to buy stocks through the Internet. E-Trade Securities Inc. became a subsidiary of E-Trade Group Inc. when it was incorporated.
  
  

Services Expanded

• Throughout the late 1990s, E-Trade Group Inc. grew financially. In 1994, as E-Trade Securities Inc., the company took in about $11 million in revenue. By 2008, all of E*Trade's subsidiaries pulled in about $3.13 billion. As the company grew, services expanded. While stock trading is still a cornerstone of E*Trade's business, the company also offers consumers such traditional banking products as checking and savings accounts, credit cards, certificates of deposit and money market accounts.
  
  

Series of Acquisitions

• Since its incorporation, E*Trade has been involved in a series of acquisitions. In 2001, a company known as Web Street Securities was assumed by E*Trade. Web Street, an online brokerage firm similar to E*Trade, had a strong presence in cities throughout the United States with offices in Beverly Hills, Boston, Denver and San Francisco. In 2005, E*Trade acquired a discount brokerage firm, BrownCo, which, at one time, was a part of J.P. Morgan.
  
  

International Presence

• In 2002, the company opened an office in the United Kingdom with the formation of a new subsidiary, E*Trade Institutional Securities. A Canadian company, Harrisdirect, was acquired by E*Trade in 2005. Harrisdirect at one time was a discount brokerage service for the Bank of Montreal.