William “Billy” Salomon, who turned Salomon Brothers, the bond trading house co-founded by his father, into a Wall Street force in stock trading and underwriting, has died. He was 100.
He died on Dec. 7 at his home in Manhattan following a gradual decline in health, his son, Peter F. Salomon, said today in an interview.
First as part of a three-member governing committee, then as managing partner from 1963 to 1978, Salomon modernized the firm that his father and two uncles had started in 1910.
He broadened the firm’s focus beyond government bonds and into new markets, assembling a team that included analysts Sidney Homer and Henry Kaufman; William Simon, who would go on to serve as U.S. treasury secretary; Lewis Ranieri, who would become known as the father of mortgage-based securities; and Michael Bloomberg, who would create Bloomberg LP, owner of Bloomberg News, and serve as New York City mayor.
Under his direction, the firm became an aggressive new competitor in the contest for underwriting business and a specialist in the high-stakes field of block trading, and it invested in computer technology to help handle the increased business.