Morgan Stanley is acquiring discount broker E*Trade for $13B

Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley is buying discount broker E*Trade Financial Corporation for $13 billion.

The all-stock deal is set to be announced today, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The takeover is said to be the biggest by a giant U.S. bank since the 2008 crisis.

“We’ll take on Schwab. We’ll take on Fidelity,” James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, told the Journal. “This isn’t about legacy-building; it’s about getting [Morgan Stanley] ready for prime time.”

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The Morgan Stanley stock is down by over 4% in the pre-market hours. It remains to be seen how the stock reacts when the market opens.

In November, brokerage giant Charles Schwab agreed to acquire rival TD Ameritrade in an all-stock transaction valued at $26 billion.

Notably, E*Trade is also a crypto-friendly brokerage like TD Ameritrade. E*Trade was said to be preparing to offer trading in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), but there has been no official announcement in that regard yet.

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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.