Fidelity: Abigail Johnson, Zero-Fee Index Funds and the Jefferies Gifts

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Fidelity Investments is privately owned: parent FMR LLC is about 40 percent held by CEO Abigail Johnson and her family and 60 percent by current and former employees. In mid-2026 it had $7.8 trillion in assets under management and $19.9 trillion under administration, and 2025 revenue reached $37.7 billion with 80,000 employees and retirement plans for over 28,800 businesses. Founded in 1930 as the Fidelity Fund and restructured by Edward C. Johnson II in 1946, it moved into 401(k) plans in 1982 as pensions gave way, launched computerized trading in 1984, and became the first mutual fund company with a web page. After Abigail Johnson became CEO in 2014, it introduced zero-fee index funds in 2018.

The private structure lets Fidelity accept short-term losses and keeps its finances out of public filings. A 2016 Reuters investigation found executives buying private shares in startups such as Alibaba at seven cents before Fidelity funds bought in. The SEC fined it $2 million in 2004 after branch managers had staff alter and destroy client documents to pass compliance inspections. From 2006 to 2008 traders took private flights, Super Bowl and Wimbledon tickets, concerts and rare wine from Jefferies salespeople seeking its order flow, leading to more than $53 million in fines. In January 2025 FINRA fined it $600,000 after an employee took $750,000 from international clients over eight years.

• Fidelity runs a stablecoin on Ethereum called the Fidelity Digital Dollar.
• Zero-fee index funds act as a loss leader that brings investors into its wider ecosystem of paid services.
• Family and executive direct investments include Boston's Seaport Center, telecom networks and lumber companies.
• In 2007 it was fined over misleading sales literature for Destiny plans aimed at military personnel.
• Federal regulators penalized it in 2025 for taking weeks to process trades that should have taken days.