How it started
History
In 1970, Ian Cumming and Joseph S. Steinberg both graduated from Harvard Business School and went to work for Carl Marks & Company, an investment bank.
In 1979, they gained control of Talcott National Corporation, sold the James Talcott Factors division, and, in 1980, they renamed the company Leucadia.
In 1984, the company made a $61 million profit on its $77 million investment in Avco Corporation by forcing the sale of the company to Textron.
In 1991, the company acquired insurer Colonial Penn from Florida Power & Light for $150 million.
In 1997, the company sold the life insurance division of Colonial Penn to Conseco for $460 million and sold the auto insurance division of Colonial Penn to GE Capital for $950 million.
From Wikipedia’s article on Jefferies Financial Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2