In 1998 the retail brokerage industry in the United States was a $12 billion-plus business with well over 200 competitors. The industry consisted of essentially three type of firms: traditional full-service brokers like Merrill Lynch, Dean Witter, Paine Webber, and Prudential Securities; and the new breed of Internet brokers like Schwab Online (a division of charles Schwab), E*Trade, Waterhouse, Suretrad Ameritrad, and Web Street Securities.