89Variations and Enterprise Excellence
5.1.2.4.1 Becoming Future-Enabled at Charles Schwab
In December 1998, Charles Schwab’s market capitalization rst surpassed that of Merrill Lynch,
$25.5–$25.4 billion. Merrill had $11.4 billion in equity versus Schwab’s $1.9 billion; $1.5 trillion in
customer assets versus Schwab’s $600 billion; and 66,000 employees versus Schwab’s 17,400. But
Schwab was worth more to investors. To the uninformed, it might have appeared to be an overnight
e-commerce success, but Schwab’s success was the result of decades of often frustrating efforts to
achieve a breakthrough in the brokerage business.
Charles (Chuck) Schwab started his business in 1971 with a mission of providing individual
investors with low-cost, high-qua ...