Storytelling in Organizations by Anna Linda Musacchio Adorisio

Author:Anna Linda Musacchio Adorisio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave
Published: 2008-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

5.5 Acquisitions

In this section we will hear fragments of storytelling about acquisitions. There is more than one acquisition involved in this story: there is the acquisition of First National Bank by First Security Corporation, the acquisition of First Security Corporation by Wells Fargo and the merger of Norwest and Wells Fargo, and indeed all the other acquisitions the interviewees came into contact during their careers.

The story of Wells Fargo in Las Cruces intertwines with the story of the merger between First National Bank of Dona Ana and First Security Corporation. Here is the account of a banker from the First National Bank side talking about how Wells Fargo came into town:

A group came to town, they owned a bank called United New Mexico and they moved into Las Cruces I would say about 1990 their first building was, you know that building between the Red Lobster and Ride a Bike, that was their building … and Jim who is still with us ran United New Mexico and by 1995 or 1996 they sold out to a company called Norwest Bank which was a huge middle market bank, and shortly thereafter if you read the book it says Wells Fargo bought Norwest, actually Norwest took over Wells Fargo bank because Wells Fargo was struggling they had just a big merger in California with another huge bank I forget the name they were just sinking … customers of both banks left because they couldn’t just get it together and so Norwest Bank actually took over but they kept the name because that logo the horses and buggy is in the top ten recognizable logo in the world … and that’s why they kept the name I can still put out some of the forms on my computer when I am trying to do something and they will have the Norwest sign up in the corner and the guy that runs the bank his name is Dick Kovacevich is a Norwest guy and rumors are that he is going to retire in 2008 and Stumpf … but that’s how Wells Fargo came into Las Cruces (A1).

The merger between Wells Fargo and Norwest took place in November 1998: Norwest acquired Wells Fargo bank in a $31.7 billion deal, in what was referred to by O’Reilly, Pfeffer and Chang as a “merger of equals” (O’Reilly, Pfeffer and Chang, 2004). The name was then changed to Wells Fargo & Company in order to “capitalize on the 150 years history of Wells Fargo bank and on its trademark stagecoach” (Wikipedia, Wells Fargo, 2007) logo, one of the tenth most recognizable logos in the world and “a staple of the mythology of the American West” (Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West, Free Press, 2007). Headquarters were moved to the San Francisco base of Wells Fargo, while Richard Kovacevich, former head of Norwest became president and CEO of the newly formed bank.

The merger is inscribed in a history of mergers that has produced an extensive body of literature

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