Franklin Resources vs American Express

About

Franklin Resources, Inc. (Franklin Templeton) is a San Mateo, California-based global investment management company — publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BEN) as an S&P 500 Financials component — managing mutual funds, ETFs, institutional separate accounts, and alternative investments across fixed income, equity, multi-asset, and alternative strategies through approximately 10,000 employees serving clients in 165 countries. In fiscal year 2024 (ending September 2024), Franklin Templeton reported assets under management of approximately $1.65 trillion and revenues of approximately $5.2 billion, with the company navigating the transition from traditional active management toward alternative investments and ETF expansion following the transformative 2020 acquisition of Legg Mason ($4.5 billion — adding Western Asset Management, Brandywine Global, Clarion Partners, and other boutique managers) and subsequent acquisitions including Benefit Street Partners (credit), Lexington Partners (secondary private equity), and Putnam Investments (2023 acquisition expanding retirement plan distribution). CEO Jenny Johnson leads Franklin Templeton's multi-boutique strategy: preserving the investment independence of each acquired brand (Western Asset Management operates as an autonomous fixed income manager, Clarion Partners as a standalone real estate manager) while sharing back-office, compliance, distribution, and technology infrastructure to extract operating leverage from the combined firm's $5+ billion revenue base.