Follow the Wachovia Corporation timeline to track the company's history:
1879: Legacy Wachovia Corporation was established as the Wachovia National Bank in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
1911: Wachovia National Bank merged with Wachovia Loan and Trust (founded in 1893) retaining its location in Winston-Salem.
1958: Union National Ban (founded in 1908) merges with First National Bank and Trust Company of Asheville to become the First Union National Bank of North Carolina
April 1998: First Union acquires Philadelphia-headquartered CoreStates Financial Corporation (founded in 1781) in the largest banking merger to date.
June 1998: First Union purchases The Money Store for $2.1 billion only to close the unit two years later.
April 2001: Charlotte-based First Union announces merger with Winston-Salem based Wachovia.
May 2001: Atlanta-based SunTrust Bank launches an unsolicited bid to buy Wachovia
August 2001: Wachovia shareholders approve merger with First Union.
September 2001: Wachovia and First Union merge to create Wachovia Corporation
July 2003: Wachovia Securities and the Prudential Securities Division of Prudential Financial, Inc. combined to form Wachovia Securities LLC
October 2003: Wachovia acquires Metropolitan West Securities, an affiliate company of Metropolitan West Financial.
November 2004: Wachovia completed the acquisition of Birmingham, Alabama-based banking competitor SouthTrust Corporation for $14.9 billion creating the largest bank in the southeast U.S.
March 2006: Wachovia acquires California-based Westcorp and WFS Financial, Inc. to become the ninth largest auto finance lender and gain a retail banking presence in Southern California.
May 2006: Wachovia purchases California's Golden West Financial Corp. for $25.5 billion to take on more mortgage business.
October 2007: Wachovia acquires retail securities broker A.G. Edwards Inc. for $6.8 billion.
March 2008: Wachovia begins phasing out the AG Edwards brand in favor of Wachovia Securities.
April 2008: Wachovia announces first quarterly loss in seven years.
June 2008: CEO Ken Thompson is dismissed.
July 2008: Treasury Undersecretary Robert K. Steel comes on board as CEO
Sept. 29, 2008: It it announced that Wachovia's banking operations will be sold to New York-based Citigroup for $1 per share.
Oct. 3, 2008: Wells Fargo announces that it has a definitive agreement to purchase Wachovia in entirety for $15.1 billion (approximately $7 per share).
Oct. 6, 2008: Citigroup files a $60 billion lawsuit against Wachovia and Wells Fargo for interfering with Citigroup's takeover of Wachovia's banking operations.
