Legg Mason Inc.

	'96 (in $ 000s)	% Change From '95
Revenue	516,000	9.1
Net Income	55,000	89.7
Rank Last Year: 10

Description:
Legg Mason is a financial services holding company that offers retail brokerage through Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. Its 13 other subsidiaries provide asset management, investment banking, commercial mortgage banking, mutual funds and international investment services.

Business Resume: Contact Info -- 111 S. Calvert St. Baltimore, Md. 21203 410-539-0000 Main Business -- Investment management Founded -- 1899 Chairperson -- Raymond A. Mason (CEO) President -- Raymond A. Mason Employees -- 3,000 D.C.-Area Employees -- 1,500

Developments:
Assets managed by Legg Mason grew by 36 percent last year because of the booming stock market, growth in retirement funds and continued acquisitions, including the purchase of Lehman Brothers's London-based Global Asset Management Ltd. It became part of Western Asset Management Co., Legg Mason's institutional fixed-income investment operation. Asset management fees accounted for 28 percent of revenue, more than for any other publicly held securities firm.

Chairman Chip Mason said he would like to balance the firm's growth in the bond business with expansion of its stock brokerage operations. He plans to hire more brokers this year and, if possible, acquire another firm. A bid for part of John Hancock Insurance's Freedom Securities unit was unsuccessful, but Mason is still looking. The firm also is eager to buy a bank, particularly in the wake of the announced merger of Alex. Brown Inc. and Bankers Trust New York Corp.

Legg Mason lured Robert Frank from Baltimore rival Alex. Brown Inc. to head its growing research and capital markets departments, and hired more securities analysts, focusing on technology. Offering clients the ability to trade stocks over the Internet is a matter of when, not if, the company said.