(and shortly thereafter Dean Witter's IPO) was part of a rush of Wall Street firms to sell an interest in their privately held businesses to public investors, following Merrill Lynch's initial public offering. In 1976, Reynolds implements REYCOM, the most sophisticated high-speed wire system in the industry. Meanwhile, the firm was continuing its expansion, acquiring its first international offices in Lugano and Lausanne, Switzerland. A year later, Reynolds acquired Baker Weeks & Co. whose strength was securities research. At the time of its merger with Dean Witter in 1978, Reynolds Securities had over 3,100 employees in 72 offices producing gross revenues of nearly $120 million. The Dean Witter Reynolds merger and the Sears acquisition (1978–1993) In 1978 Dean Witter and Reynolds merged to form Dean Witter Reynolds Organization Inc. (DWRO) in what was then the largest securities-industry merger in U.S. history. The resultant company, Dean Witter Reynolds, was the fifth-largest broker in the U.S. One year later Dean Witter Reynolds became the first securities firm to have offices in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. After completion of the merger, Dean Witter Reynolds generated revenue of more than $520 million. In 1981, Dean Witter Reynolds was acquired by Sears, Roebuck and Company in a $600 million transaction. Sears' core retail business was facing several challenges, and the company decided to diversify into new businesses, including financial services. Sears, which was already in the financial services business through its ownership of the Allstate Insurance Company announced a major acquisition initiative in financial services. In addition to the acquisition of Dean Witter, Sears also acquired Coldwell Banker, the real estate brokerage company in 1981. Sears intended for Dean Witter to form the foundation for a larger Sears Financial Services Network that would be available to customers through the company's retail stores. Sears named Philip J. Purcell, a strategic planner at the Sears Chicago headquarters and former McKinsey & Co. consultant, to head Dean Witter. Purcell moved to New York to run the operation from Dean Witter's office. At the time of the Sears acquisition, Dean Witter Reynolds had a retail broker force of over 4,500 account executives in over 300 locations with over 11,500 employees in total. For the year ended 1980, Dean Witter Reynolds generated over $700 million of revenue. Under Sears ownership, in 1986, the firm launched the Discover Card, a new brand of credit card outside the well