Wachovia to buy A.G. Edwards for $6.8 Bil. Creates 2nd largest retail brokerage firm in the US

[A HERETIC I AM]

<snip> NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. bank, said Thursday it will buy A.G. Edwards Inc. for $6.8 billion in cash and stock, creating the second-largest U.S. retail brokerage.

Shares of A.G. Edwards (Charts) jumped 13 percent in premarket trading, while shares of Wachovia (Charts, Fortune 500) fell 1 percent.

With so many signs pointing to more mergers, are lofty share prices masking problems?
The combined brokerage would have about 14,784 brokers, ranking behind Merrill Lynch & Co. (Charts, Fortune 500); and $1.15 trillion of client assets, ranking behind Merrill and Citigroup Inc. (Charts, Fortune 500), Wachovia said. It expects to command a 14 percent market share, and employ more than 31,000 people.
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http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/31/news/companies/wachovia.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007053109

If you own shares of AG Edwards, they are up over $10.00 this morning.

[Rydz777]

1. Combined firm "will have 14,784 brokers." Expect layoffs.