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Cantor Fitzgerald

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Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.
Company typeLimited partnership
IndustryFinancial services
Investment banking
Founded1945; 79 years ago (1945)
HeadquartersNew York City, U.S.
Key people
Howard W. Lutnick (Chairman and CEO)[1]
Anshu Jain (President, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.)[2]
Number of employees
12,000[3]
Websitewww.cantor.com Edit this at Wikidata

Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. is an American financial services firm that was founded in 1945. It specializes in institutional equity, fixed-income sales and trading, and serving the middle market with investment banking services, prime brokerage, and commercial real estate financing. It is also active in new businesses, including advisory[4] and asset management services, gaming technology, and e-commerce. It has more than 5,000 institutional clients.

Cantor Fitzgerald is one of 24 primary dealers that are authorized to trade US government securities with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[5]

Cantor Fitzgerald's 1,600 employees work in more than 30 locations, including financial centers in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. Together with its affiliates, Cantor Fitzgerald operates in more than 60 offices in 20 countries and has more than 12,500 employees.[6]

Before 2001, the company's headquarters were located between the 101st and 105th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, just above the impact site of American Airlines Flight 11 during the September 11 attacks. 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who were present that day were killed, representing the largest loss of life among any single organization in the attacks.

Early history

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Cantor Fitzgerald was formed in 1945 by Bernard Gerald Cantor and John Fitzgerald as an investment bank and brokerage business. It later became known for its computer-based bond brokerage, the quality of its institutional distribution business model, and the market's premier government securities dealer.[7]

In 1965, Cantor Fitzgerald began "large block" sales/trading of equities for institutional customers. It became the world's first electronic marketplace for US government securities in 1972, and in 1983, it was the first to offer worldwide screen brokerage services in US government securities.

In 1991, Howard Lutnick was named president and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald; he became chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., in 1996.[8]

9/11 attacks

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Main article: September 11 attacks
Further information: Casualties of the September 11 attacks
1 World Trade Center (North Tower), the building with the antenna to the left, included the corporate headquarters of Cantor Fitzgerald.[9]

Cantor Fitzgerald's corporate headquarters and New York City office,[9][10] on the 101st to the 105th floors of 1 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan (2 to 6 floors above the impact zone of American Airlines Flight 11), were destroyed during the September 11, 2001 attacks. At 8:46:46 a.m., eighteen seconds after the plane struck the tower, a Goldman Sachs server issued an alert saying that its trading system had gone offline because it could not connect with the server.[11][12] Since all stairwells leading past the impact zone were destroyed by the initial crash or blocked with smoke, fire, or debris, every employee who reported for work that morning was killed in the attacks; 658 of its 960 New York employees were killed or missing,[13] or 68.5% of its total workforce, which was considerably more than any of the other World Trade Center tenants, the New York City Police Department, the Port Authority Police Department, the New York City Fire Department, or the Department of Defense. Forty-six contractors, food service workers, and visitors in the Cantor Fitzgerald offices at the time were also killed.[14] CEO Howard Lutnick was not present that day, but his younger brother, Gary, was among those killed. Lutnick vowed to keep the company alive, and the company was able to bring its trading markets back online within a week.[15][16]

On September 19, Cantor Fitzgerald made a pledge to distribute 25% of the firm's profits for the next five years, and it committed to paying for ten years of health care for the benefit of the families of its 658 former Cantor Fitzgerald, eSpeed, and TradeSpark employees (profits that would otherwise have been distributed to the Cantor Fitzgerald partners).[17] In 2006, the company had completed its promise, having paid a total of $180 million (and an additional $17 million from a relief fund run by Lutnick's sister, Edie).[18]

Until the attacks, Cantor had handled about a quarter of the daily transactions in the multi-trillion dollar treasury security market. Cantor Fitzgerald has since rebuilt its infrastructure, partly through the efforts of its London office,[19] and now has its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. The company's effort to regain its footing was the subject of Tom Barbash's 2003 book On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, and 9/11: A Story of Loss and Renewal as well as a 2012 documentary, Out of the Clear Blue Sky.

On September 2, 2004, Cantor and other organizations filed a civil lawsuit against Saudi Arabia for allegedly providing money to the hijackers and al-Qaeda.[20] It was later joined in the suit by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.[21] Most of the claims against Saudi Arabia were dismissed on January 18, 2005.[22]

In December 2013, Cantor Fitzgerald settled its lawsuit against American Airlines for $135 million. Cantor Fitzgerald had been suing for loss of property and interruption of business by alleging the airline to have been negligent by allowing hijackers to board Flight 11.[23]

Recent history

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In 2003, the firm launched its fixed-income sales and trading group.[citation needed][24] Three years later, the Federal Reserve added Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. to its list of primary dealers.[citation needed] The firm later launched Cantor Prime Services in 2009. It was meant to be a provider of multi-asset, perimeter brokerage prime brokerage platforms to exploit its clearing, financing, and execution capabilities.[citation needed] A year after, Cantor Fitzgerald began building its real estate business with the launch of CCRE.[citation needed] Cantor's affiliate, BGC Partners, expanded into commercial real estate services in 2011 by its purchase of Newmark Knight Frank and the assets of Grubb & Ellis, to form Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.[citation needed]

On December 5, 2014, two Cantor Fitzgerald analysts were said to be in the top 25 analysts on TipRanks.[25] Cantor Fitzgerald has a prolific special-purpose acquisition company underwriting practice, having led all banks in SPAC underwriting activity in both 2018 and 2019.[26]

In March 2016, Sage Kelly, formerly of Jefferies & Co., joined the firm as senior managing director and head of its investment-banking division.[27]

Philanthropy

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Edie wrote An Unbroken Bond: The Untold Story of How the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald Families Faced the Tragedy of 9/11 and Beyond. All proceeds from the book's sale benefit the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund and the charities it assists.[28]

The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund provided $10 million to families affected by Hurricane Sandy. Howard Lutnick and the Relief Fund "adopted" 19 elementary schools in impacted areas by distributing $1,000 prepaid debit cards to each family from the schools.[29] A total of $10 million in funds was given to families affected by the storm.[30]

Two days after the 2013 Moore tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, killing 24 people and injuring hundreds, Lutnick pledged to donate $2 million to families affected by the tornado. The donation was given to families in the form of $1,000 debit cards.[31][32]

Each year, on September 11, Cantor Fitzgerald and its affiliate, BGC Partners, donate 100% of their revenue to charitable causes on their annual Charity Day, which was initially established to raise money to assist the families of the Cantor employees who died in the World Trade Center attacks.[33] Since its inception, Charity Day has raised $192[34] million for charities globally.[35]

Subsidiaries and affiliates

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The firm has many subsidiaries and affiliates, including:

  • BGC Partners, named after fixed-income trading innovator and founder B. Gerald Cantor, is a global brokerage company that services the wholesale financial markets and commercial real estate marketplace in New York, London, and other financial centers. BGC Partners includes Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, the fourth-largest real estate service provider in the US.[citation needed]
  • Cantor Ventures is the company's corporate venture capital and enterprise development arm. Led by Henrique De Castro, the group's current investments include delivery.com, Ritani, TopLine Game Labs, AdFin, Lucera, NewsWhip, and XIX Entertainment.[citation needed]
  • Hollywood Stock Exchange, founded in 1996, is the world's virtual entertainment stock market.[citation needed]
  • TopLine Game Labs is a technology company to create short-duration fantasy sports and entertainment-based social gaming. Headquartered in Los Angeles, TopLine Game Labs was, in 2013, building a platform-agnostic architecture to power game experiences for sports.[36]

Senior management

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List of chairpersons

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  1. Bernie Cantor (1945–1996)
  2. Howard Lutnick (1996–present)

List of CEOs

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  1. Bernie Cantor (1945–1991)
  2. Howard Lutnick (1991–present)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Howard Lutnick bio". Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  2. ^ "Anshu Jain bio". Archived from the original on March 29, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  3. ^ "Company History".
  4. ^ "IAPD - Investment Adviser Public Disclosure - Homepage". adviserinfo.sec.gov. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  5. ^ "Primary Dealers - Federal Reserve Bank of New York - FEDERAL RESERVE BANK of NEW YORK". www.newyorkfed.org. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  6. ^ "Company History". Cantor Fitzgerald. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  7. ^ "About Us". Cantor Fitzgerald. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  8. ^ "Executive Profile Howard W. Lutnick". Bloomberg Businessweek. February 11, 2015.
  9. ^ a b "office locations." Cantor Fitzgerald. March 4, 2000. Retrieved on October 4, 2009.
  10. ^ "office locations." Cantor Fitzgerald. August 9, 2001. Retrieved on October 4, 2009.
  11. ^ McCullagh, Declan (November 25, 2009). "Egads! Confidential 9/11 Pager Messages Disclosed". CBS News. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  12. ^ "9/11 hit home for Scott Auker". Manheim Central News. September 11, 2011. Archived from the original on March 25, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  13. ^ Grove, Lloyd (September 11, 2013). "Reliving 9/11, With Tears: Out of the Clear Blue Sky, Reviewed". The Daily Beast.
  14. ^ Blais, Allison; Rasic, Lynn (2011). A Place of Remembrance: Official Book of the National September 11 Memorial. National Geographic Books. ISBN 978-1-4262-0807-2.
  15. ^ Roche, Julia La. "The Amazing And Heartbreaking Story Of The CEO Who Lived And Rebuilt His Firm After 9/11: Howard Lutnick". Business Insider. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  16. ^ Urbina, Ian (November 19, 2014). "The Secret Lives of Passwords". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 1, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  17. ^ Diebel, Matthew; Cahli, Petra; Navrrao, Bruno; McCartney, Ryan; Bratu, Becky (2010). "Iconic 9/11 figures: Where are they now?". Today.com. NBC. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  18. ^ Jessica Pressler (August 27, 2011). "The Encyclopedia of 9/11: Cantor Fitzgerald: The firm that lost the most". New York.
  19. ^ David Cohen (September 11, 2009). "Cantor Fitzgerald... the City firm that rose from the 9/11 ashes". London Evening Standard.
  20. ^ WTC agency sues Saudis over 9/11, BBC News Online, September 11, 2004
  21. ^ Port Authority to Join Suit Against Saudi Arabia Over 9/11 Attack, Associated Press, September 13, 2004,
  22. ^ Glovin, David (January 18, 2005). "Saudi Arabia Wins Dismissal From Sept. 11 Lawsuits (Update1)". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  23. ^ Benjamin Weiser (December 17, 2013). "Cantor Fitzgerald Settles 9/11 Suit Against American Airlines for $135 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
  24. ^ Cantor Global. "Cantor Global Fixed Income".
  25. ^ "Cantor Fitzgerald Research Analysts Youssef Squali and Brian White Recognized In TipRanks' Top 25 Analysts on Wall Street Ranking | Cantor Fitzgerald". www.cantor.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
  26. ^ "Special Purpose Acquisition Company Database | SPAC Research". www.spacresearch.com.
  27. ^ Fox, Emily Jane "Banker Once Accused of Drug-Filled Foursome Returns to Wall Street" Vanity Fair, March 14, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  28. ^ Lutnick, Edie (September 11, 2012). "Honor the Past By Building a Positive Future". Huffington Post.
  29. ^ "Cantor Fitzgerald, Robin Hood Sandy Aid Tops $70 Million". Bloomberg.
  30. ^ "Cantor Fitzgerald gives $10M to victims". Crain's New York Business. Bloomberg. March 25, 2013. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  31. ^ Wells, Jesse (September 23, 2013). "NEW: NY group in 9/11 makes $1000 donations to May 20th storm victims". KFOR-TV. KFOR. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  32. ^ "$1000 gift cards given". NewsOK. NewsOK.com.
  33. ^ "Princes Break Trading World Record As Celebs Raise $12M for Charity". Look to the Stars. September 16, 2013.
  34. ^ "Relief Fund". Cantor Fitzgerald. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  35. ^ "Princes Break Trading World Record As Celebs Raise $12M for Charity". Look to the Stars. September 16, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  36. ^ Dave, Paresh (June 27, 2013). "TopLine gets $25 million to launch short-term fantasy game platform". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
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