Wells Fargo & Co.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC; commonly "Wells Fargo") is a publicly traded U.S. financial services holding company. It traces its name to the 1852 express-and-banking firm founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo; today's company results from the 1998 merger with Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation. Corporate headquarters are in San Francisco, with executive offices at 30 Hudson Yards, New York. As of fiscal year 2025 it reported roughly $2.15 trillion in total assets, about $83.7 billion in revenue, and approximately 205,000 employees, making it one of the largest U.S. bank holding companies by assets.

Operations. Wells Fargo is a diversified bank, not a technology licensor. Its principal subsidiary is Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., a national bank. The company reports four operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management. Offerings span retail and small-business deposit and lending products, credit cards, residential mortgages and servicing, commercial and corporate lending, treasury management, investment banking and capital markets, brokerage, and asset management. Subsidiaries also include equipment finance and rail leasing operations.

Patent-litigation posture. The tracked data show 1 case total: 0 as plaintiff, 1 as defendant — the profile of an operating company attacked by a patent holder rather than an entity asserting patents. The single matter is Wapp Tech Limited Partnership et al. v. Wells Fargo & Co., filed July 16, 2018 in the Eastern District of Texas (Sherman Division), a plaintiff-friendly venue for patent suits. Plaintiff Wapp Tech is a patent-assertion entity that has sued multiple banks over mobile-application emulation and testing software.

Notable context. In that case, Wapp accused Wells Fargo of infringing U.S. Patents 8,924,192; 9,298,864; and 9,971,678. Wells Fargo & Co. was named originally; Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. was later joined and the holding company dismissed without prejudice. The court stayed the bank suit under the customer-suit doctrine pending Wapp's separate action against the software manufacturer (Micro Focus/Seattle SpinCo). After Wapp settled with Micro Focus, the court granted Wapp's motion and dismissed its claims against Wells Fargo with prejudice on January 11, 2022. Wapp filed a second suit against Wells Fargo (No. 4:21-cv-671) in August 2021 concerning non-Micro Focus products. No other patent cases for this entity appear in the tracked data.