To hear Smith Barney chief executive officer James Dimon talk, the proposed merger between Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter Discover is one of the best things that could have happened to his firm. “It has legitimized everything we’ve ever done,” beams Dimon, at 40 the youngest CEO on Wall Street. “In some small, peculiar way, it helps. It’s hard to say Morgan Stanley Dean Witter makes a lot of sense without saying Smith Barney makes a lot of sense.”
In the past, Smith Barney’s retail investor focus has been disparaged by blue-chip investment bank competitors.
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