Fidelity Investments

Edward Johnson 2d had taken over the Fidelity Fund three years earlier, and in 1946 he founded a new company, Fidelity Management & Research, to act as the sole adviser to the Fidelity Fund; this was the starting point of today’s Fidelity Investments. The company has been privately held since its founding.⁠[1][1]

The founder’s son, Edward C. “Ned” Johnson 3d, a Harvard College graduate, joined the firm as a research analyst in 1957. He managed the Fidelity Trend Fund from 1958 to 1967 and was the first portfolio manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1963 to 1971.⁠[2][2]

Ned Johnson was named president of the company in 1972 and later took over Fidelity from his father; accounts differ on the year he became chairman, with one giving 1977 and another saying it was after his father retired in 1976. When he took over, Fidelity had about $3.9 billion in assets.⁠[2][3][2][3]

Under his leadership, Fidelity began selling mutual funds directly to the public and started offering discount brokerage services that made stock investing significantly cheaper.⁠[3][3]

In 1974, Fidelity began selling retail mutual funds directly through a toll-free telephone line and offering check-writing from money market mutual funds, a first in the industry.⁠[1]

Peter Lynch ran the Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990, during which the fund gained about 29 percent a year, making him the best-known stock picker in the United States. In the 1980s, Magellan became Fidelity’s flagship fund and the largest equity fund in the world.⁠[4][1]

In the early 1980s, Fidelity began offering 401(k) workplace savings plans to employers and opened its first retail investor center, expanding the reach of its business.⁠[1]

In 1989, Fidelity launched FundsNetwork, an open platform giving individual investors and financial institutions access to both Fidelity and non-Fidelity funds.⁠[1]

On March 5, 2008, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Fidelity and 13 current or former employees, including high-ranking executives, with improperly accepting more than $1.6 million in travel, entertainment and other gifts paid for by outside brokers courting the large volume of trading Fidelity generated on behalf of its mutual funds. In the settled order, the SEC found that Fidelity had failed to seek “best execution” for its clients’ mutual fund transactions and that the selection of brokers had been influenced by gifts as well as by family and romantic relationships with brokers.⁠[5][5][5]

The order required Fidelity to pay an $8 million penalty, censured the firm, ordered it to cease further violations and required it to hire an independent compliance consultant to review its policies on equity trading, conflicts and gifts; Fidelity consented to the order without admitting or denying the findings. Peter Lynch, the former Magellan Fund manager and then a trustee and vice chairman, was among those charged; he settled without admitting or denying the allegations and was ordered to pay $15,948 in disgorgement plus $4,183 in prejudgment interest.⁠[5][5][5][5][5][5]

In 2010, Fidelity lost its position as the largest U.S. mutual fund company by assets; over the following years, as investors moved from actively managed funds to low-cost index funds, Fidelity expanded its index fund and ETF offerings.⁠[4][4]

In 2011, Fidelity launched Fidelity Personalized Portfolios, offering portfolio customization, tax management and multiple investment vehicles in a single account.⁠[1]

In 2014, Ned Johnson’s daughter Abigail Johnson became chief executive officer. She had joined the company in 1988 and had managed mutual funds and overseen several business divisions.⁠[4][4]

Fidelity began researching digital assets and blockchain technology in 2014 and was one of the first traditional financial firms to formally research bitcoin; the company says it also started bitcoin mining that year. In 2015, the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology formed a dedicated blockchain incubator and bitcoin mining operation, and Fidelity Charitable accepted its first bitcoin donation; in 2016, the company completed its first proof of concept for an in-house custody solution to securely store the bitcoin it had mined.⁠[6][6][7][6][6][6]

On November 21, 2016, Fidelity announced that Ned Johnson, 86, would retire and become chairman emeritus, and that Abigail Johnson, 54, would succeed him as chairman in early December while remaining chief executive officer; she is the third generation of the family to control the company. In an email to employees, Ned Johnson called this a “natural progression” in his daughter’s career; after retiring, he did not serve on the seven-member board. At the time Fidelity managed about $2.1 trillion in assets.⁠[4][4][4][2][2][4]

In the late 2010s, Fidelity launched the industry’s first zero-expense-ratio index funds and its robo-advisor, Fidelity Go, to lower barriers to investing.⁠[1]

On October 15, 2018, Fidelity announced a dedicated U.S. subsidiary, Fidelity Digital Assets, to provide custody, over-the-counter trade execution and order routing for bitcoin and other digital assets to institutional investors such as hedge funds, family offices and trading firms, with support for bitcoin and ether planned from early the following year. Chief Executive Officer Abigail Johnson said the goal was to make digitally native assets such as bitcoin more accessible to investors. The unit was led by Tom Jessop, previously president of Chain Inc., and about 100 people were working on it at the time.⁠[6][8][8][8][8][8][8]

In 2019, Fidelity Digital Assets began serving clients; that year the New York State Department of Financial Services granted Fidelity Digital Asset Services, LLC a limited purpose trust charter under New York Banking Law.⁠[6][6]

In 2020, Fidelity Digital Assets expanded to the United Kingdom with Fidelity Digital Assets, Ltd., which was later registered with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority for certain cryptoasset activities.⁠[6]

On March 17, 2021, the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust was formed in Delaware, sponsored by FD Funds Management LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of FMR LLC; on March 24, the trust filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue shares as an exchange-traded fund. Fidelity thus became one of the first major asset managers to apply for a spot bitcoin ETP. In the same year, Fidelity Digital Assets launched a collateral agent service allowing clients to obtain cash loans from third-party lenders using bitcoin held with the company as collateral.⁠[9][9][9][9][10][6]

In 2022, Fidelity Digital Assets began offering ether custody and trade execution; the same year it launched Fidelity Crypto for individual investors, with trading and custody provided by Fidelity Digital Asset Services, LLC.⁠[6][6]

Ned Johnson died on March 23, 2022, at the age of 91; his family confirmed his death the next day without giving a cause. The family said he was a visionary, an innovator and a philanthropist. Fidelity was then run by Abigail Johnson and remained privately held.⁠[3][3][3][3]

The registration statement for the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund became effective on January 10, 2024, signaling that the SEC had authorized exchange-traded products backed by physical bitcoin for trading on traditional stock exchanges. On January 11, the fund (ticker FBTC) commenced operations and began trading on the Cboe BZX Exchange as one of the industry’s first spot bitcoin ETPs, with an annual fee of 0.25% waived for the first six months. The bitcoin held by the fund is custodied by Fidelity Digital Assets.⁠[10][10][11][10][11][10][10]

FBTC’s net assets were $18.8 billion at the end of 2024 and fell to $17.6 billion at the end of 2025.⁠[11][11]

On July 23, 2024, Fidelity launched the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (ticker FETH), with an expense ratio of 25 basis points waived until January 1, 2025; the ether held by the fund is likewise custodied by Fidelity Digital Assets.⁠[12][12][12]

In 2025, Fidelity Digital Assets began offering SolanaSolanaSolana is a proof-of-stake (PoS) public blockchain designed for high throughput and low latency, with SOL as its native token; it was developed by Solana Labs and launched Mainnet Beta in March 2020. It is known for design choices such as its Proof of History clock and parallel execution, suffered several network-wide outages in its early years, and became one of the crypto industry’s focal points in events including the FTX collapse, U.S. SEC lawsuits, and the listing of Solana ETFs.Open the full entry custody and trade execution; Fidelity launched Fidelity Crypto for IRAs, allowing customers to invest directly in cryptocurrency in individual retirement accounts, added Solana trading and its first staking-enabled exchange-traded product, the Fidelity Solana Fund (FSOL), and introduced an OnChain share class for the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYOXX), the firm’s first tokenized money market product.⁠[6][7][7][7][7]

On December 12, 2025, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced conditional approval of five national trust bank charter applications, including the application of Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association to convert from a state trust company to a national trust bank.⁠[13][13]

On February 4, 2026, Fidelity launched its first stablecoin, the Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD), issued by Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, for retail and institutional investors; it can be bought and redeemed for $1, and its reserve assets are managed by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC. Mike O’Reilly, president of Fidelity Digital Assets, said the passage of the GENIUS Act had provided clear regulatory guardrails for payment stablecoins.⁠[14][14][14][14]

On March 2, 2026, Fidelity released its 2025 annual report: as of December 31, 2025, revenue for the year was $37.7 billion, up 15%; operating expense was $24.9 billion; operating income was $12.7 billion, up 24%; net asset flows were $657.3 billion; assets under administration were $18.0 trillion and managed assets (formerly called discretionary assets, including all Fidelity investment products and managed accounts) were $7.1 trillion, both up 19%. The report notes that these financial results differ from the FMR LLC consolidated financial statements.⁠[15][16][16][16][16][16][16][7]

In her chairman’s letter, Abigail Johnson said a resilient stock market and higher interest rates had fueled the year’s results, but that the more lasting determinants of long-term success were exceptional customer service and market share growth. In 2025 the company averaged 4.4 million trades a day, up 31%, and its exchange-traded lineup grew to 75 products with $148 billion in assets.⁠[7][16][7]

On August 4, 2026, Fidelity published its second-quarter business update: as of June 30, 2026, assets under administration were $19.9 trillion, up 22% year over year; managed assets were $7.8 trillion, up 23%; and daily average trades were 5.7 million. During the quarter the company introduced its first ETF share classes, its exchange-traded lineup grew to 84 products with $172 billion in assets under administration, and its retail unified managed household offering crossed $1 trillion in assets.⁠[17][18][18][18][18][18]

Fidelity serves individuals, employers, wealth management firms and institutions, offering mutual funds, ETFs, fixed income, brokerage, retirement accounts, workplace benefits, charitable giving and digital assets, among other products and services. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, it employs more than 80,000 associates across 11 countries, with 14 global regional sites and 215 Investor Centers.⁠[1][1][1]

As of 2025, Fidelity employed more than 5,000 people in Boston and planned to move during 2026 from 245 Summer Street to a new headquarters in the Commonwealth Pier redevelopment in the Seaport.⁠[15]

Fidelity’s parent company, FMR LLC, is privately owned and as of 2025 had been privately held for 79 years. The company is controlled by the Johnson family, with Abigail Johnson the third generation to lead it; as of 2026 she was chairman and chief executive officer, and the chief financial officer was Kevin Barry.⁠[7][7][4][18][16]

Fidelity Investments: Official website: https://www.fidelity.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

About Fidelity: Official website: https://about.fidelity.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

Fidelity Newsroom: Official website: https://newsroom.fidelity.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[17]

Fidelity Digital Assets: Official website: https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[14]

X: Public account: https://x.com/Fidelity (opens in a new window)⁠[1]

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