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The Transition Years...
In the immediate aftermath of Mayday, however, Weeden's business took it on the chin, as Don Weeden had felt might happen, as commission rates on stock trades plummeted. And that wasn't all that ailed the firm in the second half of the ’Seventies. The Weeden brothers, long at least as actively involved in environmental and political causes as they were in Wall Street, began withdrawing from active management of the firm. (Already, back in 1968, Don Weeden had run, unsuccessfully, for a seat in Congress, as a Republican in a heavily Democratic Manhattan district.) Late in 1975, the brothers ceded day-to-day operations of the firm for the first time to a non-family member. The new CEO went on an expansion spree, opening new offices, acquiring two small firms, nearly doubling the number of Weeden employees and ballooning its inventory position in securities. Alas, just in time for the worst bear market since the ’Thirties...
In 1978, Don Weeden, who had retained chairmanship of the firm, assumed the CEO’s mantle. But, with the firm's capital dangerously depleted, he had no choice but to arrange a merger. Weeden's newer ancillary ventures went by the wayside but its core block trading unit was folded into the firm that became known as Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook & Weeden. The separate Weeden Equity Trading department, during its six years within Moseley, consistently ranked as the combined firm’s largest profit center.
By 1985, Moseley, in its turn, was sinking. But that same year, its Weeden block trading unit generated $11 million in revenues and ample profits. And a small group of its key employees, led by head trader Barry Small, was determined not to allow the block trading desk to be disbanded.
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