Name that company

I was founded in 1833, when two fellows began selling herbs, roots, leaves, bark and vegetable extracts. Today I’m the 16th-largest corporation in America, raking in more than $50 billion annually. I’m the leading provider of supply, information and care management products and services to the health-care industry, helping firms reduce costs and streamline processes. I provide pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management, such as health-care information technology for hospitals and physicians, and hospital and retail pharmacy automation. Based in San Francisco, I employ more than 24,000 people worldwide. Who am I?

Last week’s question and answer

I was born in 1925, when the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation incorporated the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. Started thanks to a $10,000 loan, I featured a one-room office in downtown Columbus. Today, I’m one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the world, with more than $148 billion in statutory assets. I deal in domestic property and casualty insurance, life insurance and retirement savings, asset management and strategic investments. I’m on your side, and one of my commercials features M.C. Hammer. I take in about $4 billion annually. Who am I? (Nationwide)

Marvel’s new identity

After spending the last few years raking in licensing fees while major Hollywood studios take its characters to the big screen, Marvel (NYSE: MVL) is prepared for a bigger piece of the action.

The firm has secured $525 million in financing to transform 10 of its comic book properties, including Captain America, Nick Fury and The Avengers, into celluloid spectacles. It will lean on Paramount studio to distribute its films, but will finance and produce them in-house.

Starting in the summer of 2008, Motley Fool Stock Advisor (www.fooladvisor.com) pick Marvel will release live-action adventures twice a year. Its new debt will be investment-grade, featuring a relatively cheap interest rate. But if Marvel defaults, its creditors will retain the movie rights to the related characters. This isn’t ideal, as sometimes a great property can get botched in the theatrical translation. It would be a shame to give up on Captain America 2, or hand it over to a new owner, just because the first entry didn’t click with movie audiences.

The movie deal is likely to rock Marvel’s stock one way or the other over the next few years, since it’s the start of a major overhaul for the company’s business model. The rewards will be huge if the company’s aim is true. The income statement should feature bigger plus and minus sums on the way to a less predictable bottom line.

Brokerage minimums

I want to open a brokerage account, but the firms I checked require between $1,000 and $5,000 up front. What can I do? – C.L., Ocala, Fla.

Keep looking. Many brokerages, such as Harrisdirect, don’t have minimums. Others have small minimums, such as Scottrade’s $500. Details about and ratings for scores of brokerages can be found in SmartMoney magazine and other periodicals. You can learn about and compare brokerages online at www.gomez.com.

Note that commissions at many brokerages have fallen to as low as $5 or $10 per trade. This is a far cry from the typical discount commission of $30 to $50 a few years ago.