established Visa, MasterCard and American Express networks. Unlike other attempts at creating a credit card to rival MasterCard and VISA, such as Citibank's Choice card, the Discover Card quickly gained a large national consumer base. It carried no annual fee, which was uncommon at the time, and offered a typically higher credit limit than similar cards. Cardholders could earn a "cashback bonus", in which a percentage of the amount spent would be refunded to the account (originally 2%, now as high as 5%), depending on how much the card was used. Discover offered merchant fees significantly lower than those of other widely accepted credit cards. Eventually, Discover grew to become one of the largest credit card issuers in the U.S. Dean Witter Discover (1993–1997) Sears' financial services initiative proved highly successful as Discover grew through the late 1980s and early 1990s. Furthermore, the substantial investment in the Discover business also began to pay off, with the business becoming highly profitable. The early 1990s were also a period of rapid growth for Dean Witter Reynolds as its strategy of focusing on the distribution of proprietary mutual funds through its extensive retail brokerage network began to bear fruit. Dean Witter's core securities business and its Discover business generated combined revenue of $59 billion in 1992 and Sears announced that it would seek to monetize its investment. In February and March 1993, Sears sold 20% of the company in an initial public offering, and the company was subsequently renamed Dean Witter, Discover & Co., with two primary operating subsidiaries: Dean Witter Reynolds and Discover Card. Later that year, the remaining 80% of shares were distributed to Sears' shareholders, giving Dean Witter complete independence from Sears. Dean Witter's corporate headquarters were located in New York City's 2 World Trade Center (i.e. South Tower), where the firm had occupied over since 1985. Dean Witter was one of many tenants whose offices were evacuated as a result of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which took place during the firm's spinoff from Sears. Following, the firm's merger with Morgan Stanley, the firm's headquarters would be moved to 1585 Broadway on the edge of New York's Time Square. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter would still have a large presence at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Dean Witter was the first big brokerage company to get into the online trading business when it bought a small