Jan 9 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is in advanced talks
to sell its Smith Barney brokerage unit to Morgan Stanley
(MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. The
move would further dismantle the financial supermarket that was
performing poorly even before the credit crunch.

Under the plan being discussed, Morgan Stanley would own 51
percent of the joint venture and Citigroup would own the rest.
Citigroup would cede operational and strategic control of the
retail brokerage business to Morgan Stanley.

Following, are some facts about the brokerage businesses of
Citigroup and Morgan Stanley:

* Smith Barney's roots go back to Philadelphia, where
broker Charles Barney founded his firm in 1873 and investment
banker Edward Smith started his in 1892. In 1938, the firms
merged, forming Smith Barney.

* In 1987, Smith Barney was acquired by financial services
corporation Primerica, and six years later it became a
subsidiary of Travelers Group, formed after the acquisition of
The Travelers by Primerica.

* In 1998, Sanford "Sandy" Weill's Travelers Group bought
U.S. bank Citicorp to create Citigroup, the world's largest
financial services conglomerate. Smith Barney became a division
of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. The deal would be the latest
step in dismantling Weill's original conception for Citigroup.

* Morgan Stanley was created in 1935, when Henry Morgan and
Harold Stanley left J.P.Morgan & Co to form the investment bank
Morgan Stanley. Forty-two years later, the company entered the
retail stock brokerage business as it merged with Shuman, Agnew
& Co, a West Coast brokerage.

* Smith Barney ended September with 14,735 brokers. It has
7.5 million client accounts, and $900 billion in client assets.
Morgan Stanley ended November with 8,426 brokers, and $546
billion in client assets.

* The combined entity would become the U.S. largest
brokerage by number of financial advisers, prior to any
attrition, surpassing Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Wells
Fargo & Co (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio and Jonathan Stempel, editing by
Bernard Orr)