Keep pulling the thread on United States.
Vanguard created the first index fund for individual investors in 1975.
Vanguard is currently the largest provider of index funds in the United States, managing over $10 trillion in passive index funds.
Vanguard owns an average of almost 10% of every company in the S&P 500.
Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street, and Fidelity collectively own 24% of the entire US stock market.
Vanguard has a unique corporate structure where it is owned exclusively by its customers through their investments in its funds.
Vanguard has saved investors over $500 billion in fees and trading costs since its founding in 1975.
According to the book "The Bogle Effect," Vanguard's competitive pressure forced the rest of the finance industry to cut fees, saving investors an additional $500 billion.
Wellington Management, with $2 billion in AUM, merged with the firm Ivest, which had $17 million in AUM, giving the Ivest partners 40% of the combined company's equity.
By 1973, the assets of the Wellington Fund had fallen to $480 million from a peak of $2 billion at the time of the Ivest merger.
On January 23, 1974, the partners from Ivest fired Jack Bogle as CEO of Wellington Management Company after he proposed mutualizing the firm's funds.
The Wellington fund board authorized Jack Bogle to create a new subsidiary, later named Vanguard, to handle only fund administration, while investment management and distribution remained with Wellington Management.
In 1976, Vanguard launched the first retail index fund, now known as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFIAX).