We chose to do our analysis on the investment industry. The companies that we have chosen to analyze are Bank of America Merrill Lynch followed by Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan Chase and Co. These companies are known as investment banks. An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations, and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities. An investment bank may also assist companies involved in mergers and acquisitions, and provide ancillary services such as market making, trading of derivatives, fixed income instruments, foreign exchange, commodities, and equity securities. We chose these four companies as they are leaders in their industry. We will be discussing at length the Industry Analysis, a Financial Analysis and Porters Five Forces to give a comparison of these four companies and to help with a better understanding of the Investment Industry. .
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs Group, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley are some of the biggest competitors in the industry ranking 46, 80, 68 and 51 on Fortune's 500, respectively. In 2012, total revenues for these services amounted to about $260 billion. The future growth of the Investment Industry is expected to be gradual. There are however overseas markets emerging and opening up new opportunities and growth for these companies.
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS.
We chose to compare the last five years of revenue for our four companies. This is a good indicator as to where the companies stand in the industry. Please note that all dollar amounts are in millions. Merrill Lynch had revenue of 64,217 in 2008, fell drastically in 2009 with $16,784, and has stayed relatively even from 2010-2012 with revenues of $29,284, $27,284, and $24,294. Compared to the other three companies, Merrill Lynch has the lowest revenues.