The Princeton tiger traditionally matches up against bulldogs, lions and bears. But over the past week, it has battled with a bull: Merrill Lynch.
Last Monday, the company announced plans to rename its asset management department from Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) to Princeton Portfolio Research and Management. The University, caught by surprise, immediately called for Merrill Lynch to cease and desist, arguing that the rebranding unfairly takes advantage of the University's name and reputation.
Merrill Lynch's move will "exploit the University's name" and "trade on the University's reputation for [Merrill Lynch's] commercial gain," University spokesperson Cass Cliatt '96 said. "We feel strongly about defending the University's reputation and have been active in defending it in the past."
The two sides are currently in talks to defuse the conflict, University counsel Peter McDonough said. Now "the ball is in their court," he said, "but failing a response, we are prepared to take legal action."
MLIM, which is based in nearby Plainsboro and administers $539 billion worth of mutual funds and other investments, countered that the new name has to do with the Princeton area, not the University.
"The rebranded entity has nothing to do with Princeton University," the company said in a press release Feb. 1. "Merrill Lynch has no intention of using Princeton University's name or reputation to support the brand."
MLIM spokesperson Megan Frank added, "In terms of Princeton, the area is the thought center of our entire business. So the name is a natural fit."
McDonough, however, expressed concern that Merrill Lynch's intention is indeed to take advantage of the University's name. He pointed to comments by MLIM president Robert Doll in the Jan. 30 Wall Street Journal, in which Doll was quoted saying that "Princeton has positive connotations given the prestige of the university."
A vested interest
Beyond the disagreement over Merrill Lynch's intentions for the rebranding, each side has a more complicated interest in the consequences of the potential new name.
Merrill Lynch, which runs separate divisions in financial advising and asset management, said that the re-branding will help to distinguish between the two arms and reduce confusion among outside advisors. "This new brand is the linchpin of our efforts to make our industry-leading products and services available to an even broader range of advisors and investors," Doll said in the press release.
But the University is concerned that third parties will confuse the new brand with the Princeton University Investment Company, which manages the University's approximately $12 billion endowment. "The University has a well-deserved reputation for our investment arm ... and the rebranding might create confusion overseas, for example, with international groups who don't know the distinction between the University and the town," Cliatt said.
The consequences of this potential confusion are "heightened by the fact that the performance of Merrill Lynch's funds has been lacking," McDonough said, pointing to last week's Journal article, which stated that the mutual funds have had "years of poor sales."
McDonough said that he has been in contact with Merrill Lynch throughout the past week, and is "cautiously optimistic that this issue will be solved."
According to Merrill Lynch's press release, the rebranding will not take place until May, timing McDonough said was "a happy coincidence" because it allows time to resolve the conflict before the new plan is implemented.
The University has dealt with similar situations in the past. In 1996, the University sued Trenton State College over an attempt to rename the school the College of New Jersey, Princeton's original name. "In that case we negotiated an acceptable arrangement in which the separate histories of each school were identified," Cliatt said.
The Princeton Review, a college test preparation company, also agreed to a disclaimer stating that it is not affiliated with the University.
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