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1997 RISK MANAGER OF THE YEAR: FMR CORP.

Posted On: Apr. 13, 1997 12:00 AM CST

Founded: Attorney Edward C. Johnson II-who specialized in corporate reorganizations and recapitalizations, served as an in-house counsel and an officer for one of Boston's first open-ended mutual funds and played a role in developing the federal Investment Company Act of 1940-founds Fidelity Management & Research Co. in 1946. FMR, which begins operations with three employees, was created as an investment adviser for Fidelity Fund, a small Boston mutual fund that a group of Boston investors formed in 1930. Mr. Johnson took over the under-performing fund as its president and a director in 1943 and infused it with some Johnson family trust funds he was managing. By 1946, the fund's assets had grown to $13 million. One of Mr. Johnson's earliest efforts was devising a program for piloting new funds designed to make money, not just preserve it, for shareholders. FMR Corp. was formed in 1972 as the holding company and sole shareholder of FMR Co. and most of its subsidiaries. FMR Co. then had $4.2 billion of assets under management.

Headquarters: Boston, where the company has offices in 18 locations.

Ownership:Privately owned. In 1995, 51% of FMR Corp.'s voting common stock was divided among 50 members of senior management. The Johnson family now controls a total of 12% of FMR's voting common stock. Among the remaining 49% of stock that was distributed, employees own an undisclosed portion.

Revenues: In 1995, the last year for which figures are available, revenues totaled about $4.28 billion, almost a 23% increase from nearly $3.48 billion in 1994.

Employees: Nearly 24,000 domestically. Fidelity International Ltd., a Bermuda-based company that FMR Corp. Chairman Edward C. Johnson III also owns in part but which is independent from FMR Corp., employs more than 1,100.

Lines of business: FMR Corp., commonly known as Fidelity Investments, is a holding company for a highly diversified mixture of businesses, though it is best known for its management of a family of mutual funds.

Subsidiary FMR Co. provides investment advisory, management and shareholder services to the nation's largest pool of mutual funds. The pool consists of 252 funds, with a total of $469.8 billion of assets under management for more than 10 million shareholders.

The retirement assets of about 4.8 million participants from the private and public sector are managed by Fidelity Investments Institutional Retirement Group, the nation's leading provider of 401(k) retirement plan services.

The Fidelity Brokerage Group, one of the nation's largest discount brokerages, handled more than 8 billion securities trades last year for retail and institutional clients.

National Financial Correspondence Services ranks among the top three firms in the securities clearing and settlement business.

The far-flung enterprises of Fidelity Capital, which has more than 100 subsidiaries, include:

A new company, which combines several established operations, that focuses on high net worth investors' needs, such as life insurance, personal trust services and a charitable gift fund.

Various publishing companies that produce 117 newspapers in eastern Massachusetts, Worth magazine, Mutual Fund Guide and customized retirement guides.

Technology concerns that are involved in many different pursuits. There is a fiber-optic telecommunications company in London. Another company is building and operating telephone networks. Its software companies are developing products to run the "smart home"; provide digital simulations of air-tunnel testing for cars, trucks and jets; route customer telephone calls within a company more efficiently; and help microchip manufacturers bring new chips to market faster by providing a better way to test new chip designs.

The Boston World Trade Center.

A 427-room hotel that the company is developing jointly with The John Drew Co. at the center.

Retail art galleries.

A national executive transportation service for corporate and individual clients.

An executive search firm.

A credit card business.

Milestones

1946: Edward C. Johnson II forms Fidelity Management & Research Co. to act as an investment adviser to Fidelity Funds. Assets under management total $13 million.

1956: Ten years after it was created, FMR Co. manages two funds and has $286 million of assets under management.

1957: Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III, who later would become chairman and chief executive officer of FMR Corp., joins FMR Co. as a research analyst.

1960: Assets under management reach $500 million.

1963: Assets under management reach $1 billion. Fidelity launches an international and U.S. growth fund that today is the popular Magellan Fund. But it was closed to new investors in 1965 for nearly two decades because of a lack of public interest.

1964: FMR Investment Management Service Inc. formed to provide investment advisory services to large corporate pension plans.

1968: Fidelity International Ltd. formed in Bermuda to manage or advise offshore funds.

1972: FMR Corp. formed as a holding company and sole shareholder of FMR Co. and most of its subsidiaries. Mr. Johnson III is named president and Mr. Johnson II is named a director.

1973: Fidelity is one of the first fund groups to bring customer service in-house, which is the catalyst for much of its later involvement in technology development.

1974: The Fidelity Daily Income Trust-the first money market fund with check-writing privileges and Fidelity's first no-load fund-is launched.

1977: Assets under management reach $5 billion. Mr. Johnson III becomes chairman and CEO of FMR Corp. Peter Lynch begins managing the Magellan Fund.

1979: Fidelity removes sales charges from most funds to sell directly to the public. Fidelity Investments Institutional Services established to sell products and services to banks, corporations and broker/dealers. Fidelity introduces the first voice-activated computer response system for use by the general public to provide price and yield quotes 24 hours a day.

1980: Fidelity International Ltd. spun off as a separate, independent company.

1981: Fidelity Systems Co. established to oversee computer and telecommunications efforts. Fidelity Management Trust Co. established to manage large companies' employee benefits assets and to hold individual IRA account assets. Magellan Fund reopened to new investors.

1985: Boston Coach, an executive transportation service, begins operating.

1986: Fidelity introduces the first credit card offered by a mutual fund company.

1987: Fidelity Capital formed as an umbrella company for startup ventures. Fidelity enters the insurance and annuity business with Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Co.

In the aftermath of the stock market crash in October, Fidelity did not face any of the types of claims other fund complexes had to deal with over customers' inability to access their accounts and order trades.

1989: Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Co. is launched to provide corporations investment management and record keeping services for 401(k) plans. Assets under management surpass $100 billion.

1990: Peter Lynch retires from Magellan Fund.

1991: Worth magazine is launched.

1993: Assets under management surpass $200 billion.

1994: Fidelity Capital opens a 35,000-square-foot trading floor-the largest in the Northeast-at the Boston World Trade Center.