At precisely 10am on Monday, March 2, 1970, The Wachovia Corporation entered a select corporate group when its stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Seconds after the opening of the market day, stock tickers chattered, and a message on the first and second sales heralding Wachovia's appearance on the Big Board was dispatched around the globe:
...."Market open....WB 56. 4s 56."
The first 100 shares of common stock in the Wachovia Corporation (symbol WB) had been sold at $56 per share. The buyer was John F. Watlington, Jr. chairman and chief executive officer of The Wachovia Corporation. Another order for 400 share ("4s") had immediately followed the initial purchase.
The decision to seek a listing on the Big Board was not made hastily by Wachovia. It came after an exhaustive study of Wachovia's responsibilities to its employees and shareholders and after a thorough consideration of the future needs of the corporation.
"This is a significant event in the history of our company," Mr. Watlington said. The listing will lead to wider national and international recognition for Wachovia.
The advantage of listing on the NYSE are numerous for the corporation, investors and for you as an individual employee.
Listing will make Wachovia stock more attractive to more people and will result in a broader and more diversified ownership, providing opportunity for additional growth. And, in a large enterprise such as The Wachovia Corporation, ,the wider base of ownership will promote greater stability.
All investors have immediate access to Wachovia stock through a broad and closely regulated auction market. Shares can be bough and sold almost as conveniently as you can walk into any Wachovia branch to make a deposit. No matter where you live, you can phone the local office of a brokerage firm which is a member of the Exchange and order shares of any listed stock. Usually in a matter of minutes after the call, the purchase can be made on the floor of the Exchange.
If there were no national marketplace where people could voluntarily invest in their country's future or sell their securities for cash, the financing of new industrial growth would be curtailed sharply. More importantly, the planning of long-range financial programs would be severely hampered.
