Morgan Stanley to buy E-Trade for $13 billion

NEW YORK (AP) – Morgan Stanley is buying E­Trade Financial for $13 billion in stock.

The deal announced Thursday combines an investment bank for millionaires and big businesses with an online brokerage that encouraged waves of regular investors to get into the market with ads featuring its talking spokes baby. 

It is one of the biggest deals on Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis. It also marks the latest chapter in Morgan Stanley’s transformation from a scrappy investment bank to a more well­rounded financial firm now more reliant on its asset and wealth management businesses.