Space6Crew
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1 year ago Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, who founded American Express along with John Butterfield, formed Wells Fargo & Company in 1852 to provide "express" and banking services to California, which was growing rapidly due to the California Gold Rush. Its earliest and most significant tasks included transporting gold from the Philadelphia Mint and "express" mail delivery that was faster and less expensive than U.S. Mail. American Express was not interested in serving California.
By the end of the California Gold Rush, Wells Fargo was a dominant express and banking organization in the West, making large shipments of gold and delivering mail and supplies. It was also the primary lender of Butterfield Overland Mail Company, which ran a 2,757 mile route through the Southwest to San Francisco and was nicknamed the "Butterfield Line" after the name of company's president John Butterfield. In 1860, Congress failed to pass the annual Post Office appropriation bill leaving the Post Office unable to pay Overland Mail Company. This caused Overland to default on its debts to Wells Fargo, allowing Wells Fargo to take control of the mail route. Wells Fargo then operated the western portion of the Pony Express.[11]
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan;[3] and managerial offices throughout the United States and internationally.[2] The company has operations in 35 countries with over 70 million customers globally.[2] It is considered a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Board.
The firm's primary subsidiary is Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., a national bank which designates its Sioux Falls, South Dakota site as its main office. It is the fourth largest bank in the United States by total assets and is also one of the largest as ranked by bank deposits and market capitalization. Along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup, Wells Fargo is one of the "Big Four Banks" of the United States.[4] It has 8,050 branches and 13,000 ATMs.[2] It is one of the most valuable bank brands.[5][6]