Schwab to Acquire OptionsXpress for $1 Billion in Stock

In a statement, Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger characterized the acquisition as particularly benefiting Schwab’s “active investor clients,” and other high-net-worth Schwab clients, noting that options investors at Schwab “tend to be among the larger, more active and longer-standing of our client relationships.”  With the acquisition, Schwab says it will offer a “best in class trading platform” for its retail clients.

Schwab said it expected the acquisition would be “modestly accretive over the first full year of combined operations, including expected revenue and expense synergies totaling approximately $80 million.” Schwab further said that it expected $55 million in merger and restructuring charges.

Schwab’s competitor in both the discount brokerage and advisor custodian space, TD Ameritrade, acquired options trading firm thinkorswim in 2009. During a speech at the TD Ameritrade Institutional annual conference in February, CEO Fred Tomczyk touted the firm’s acquisition as not simply a profitable deal, but one that showed TD Ameritrade’s commitment to help retail investors and advisor clients to trade more efficiently. In its recent review of online brokers, Barron’s named TD Ameritrade “best for options traders.”