Lehman Brothers Holdings: identity and owners, 1983-2008

analysisLehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is a Delaware corporation with SEC Commission File Number 1-9466 and IRS employer identification number 13-3216325. The SEC's EDGAR record for Central Index Key 0000806085 gives Shearson Lehman Hutton Holdings Inc as the name changed on October 17, 1990, and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc as the name from January 6, 1994 to March 12, 2012; the indenture trustee for the senior notes describes LBHI as formerly known as Shearson Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. In its 2008 petition LBHI described the group as the fourth largest investment bank in the United States, serving corporations, governments, institutions and wealthy individuals through Capital Markets, Investment Banking and Investment Management. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6}

analysisSince March 12, 2012 the same EDGAR record carries the name Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Plan Trust. As retrieved in October 2026 it shows an operating entity under SIC code 6211 with no ticker, exchange listing or LEI, a December 31 fiscal year end, an address at 1271 Avenue of the Americas and employer identification number 306315144. The Plan Trust's Form 8-K of September 6, 2024 shows that this number is the trust's own (30-6315144), filed under LBHI's Commission File Number from 420 Lexington Avenue. After the plan's effective-date report, LBHI's current reports list only Items 7.01 and 9.01 or no items; none is filed under Item 5.02, so no later board change has been reported under that item. ^{4 7}

analysisA notice in the Chapter 11 case moved the debtors' headquarters to 420 Lexington Ave, Suite 1402, New York, from January 22, 2024. West Virginia's Secretary of State registered LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS, INC. as a foreign profit corporation on February 10, 1995, with the trade name Lehman Capital; the registry lists annual reports for 1999 to 2019, a principal office at 277 Park Avenue and a termination on August 20, 2021 recorded with the reason "Pending". ^{8 9}

analysisAccording to a biographical reference work, Shearson/American Express acquired Lehman Brothers in 1984. A company-history reference describes Shearson Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., as LBHI was then named, as incorporated in 1983 and 74% owned by American Express. It reports that after Shearson lost $1 billion in 1989, Howard L. Clark, Jr., American Express's chief financial officer, became chief executive in February 1990, American Express bought a further 13% and put in more than $1 billion, and the business was reorganised into a Shearson retail unit and a Lehman Brothers institutional group headed by Richard Fuld and J. Tomilson Hill III. American Express Company is identified in EDGAR by CIK 0000004962; it is a New York corporation listed as AXP on the New York Stock Exchange. ^{1 2 3}

analysisOn May 31, 1994 American Express distributed all the LBHI common stock it held to its own shareholders, one fifth of an LBHI share for each American Express share. Beforehand LBHI sold 35,379,920 shares to American Express for about $903.8 million and 3,490,094 shares to Nippon Life Insurance Company for about $89.2 million. American Express's own quarterly report adds that it bought $200 million of LBHI cumulative voting preferred stock, and that it and Nippon Life bought 928 and 72 redeemable voting preferred shares entitling them to half of LBHI's net income above $400 million for eight years, capped at $50 million a year. Afterwards American Express held no common stock but preferred stock with about 2.9% of the votes, and Nippon Life held securities giving it about 11.2% of the votes on a fully diluted basis. ^{4 5}

analysisLBHI's 2002 proxy statement shows the redeemable voting preferred stock still held by American Express (92.8%) and Nippon Life (7.2%), carrying 0.4% of the votes, while an Incentive Plans Trust held 20.3% of the votes in common shares for employee awards; management knew of no other holder of more than 5%. The same proxy describes continuing ties: since 1990 American Express had guaranteed certain deferred-compensation payments to Lehman employees for a fee, and LBHI, Lehman Brothers Inc. and Lehman Commercial Paper Inc. were co-tenants with American Express companies of the leasehold of 3 World Financial Center. ¹

analysisFor December 31, 2007 the AXA group reported beneficial ownership of 7.5% of LBHI's common stock, almost all held by its subsidiary AllianceBernstein L.P. for clients' advisory accounts, and stated that the filing was not an admission of beneficial ownership. LBHI's September 2008 petition lists as holders of 5% or more AXA and related parties (7.25%), ClearBridge Advisors, LLC (6.33%) and FMR LLC (5.87%). FMR later reported that by September 30, 2008 it held only 48,062 shares and had ceased to own more than 5%. ^{2 3 4}