The Markets April 4, 2007
M is For Macy’s
Looks like Bill Gates will have to 'shop around.'
Reported by Nevin E. Adams
It had long been rumored that the New York Stock Exchange was holding “M’ in reserve for the day when Microsoft moved its listing from the NASDAQ to the Big Board. However, last week retailer Federated Department Stores said it plans to adopt “M” as its trading symbol when shareholders approve its proposed name change to Macy’s Inc.
Now the symbol “M”, which has been unused since 1989, when it represented Texas bank holding company M Corp. (which went under that year) will be associated with the Macy’s name.
Name Change
Federated management originally planned to ask shareholders to change the name to Macy’s Group, but shortened that to Macy’s Inc. when it found it could have the coveted single-letter stock symbol (90% of the retailer’s business reportedly now comes via the Macy’s brand).
Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the name change on May 18 and the stock symbol change would go into effect on June 1.
What’s Left?
Oh – while there are just 26 single-letter tickers to choose from, several are still available:
G, I, J, L, N, P, U, V, W, and Z.
Still “Single”
A – Agilent Technologies | E – Eni | M – Macy’s | S – Sprint Nextel |
B – Barnes Group | F – Ford Motor | O – Realty Income | T – AT&T |
C – Citigroup | H – Realogy | Q – Qwest Communications | X – U.S. Steel |
D – Dominion Resources | K – Kellogg | R – Ryder System | Y – Alleghany |