FACTBOX: Five facts about Lehman's past and present

(Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc teetered on the brink of failure on Sunday. Following are five facts about Lehman Brothers' history and present.

- German immigrant Henry Lehman opened a general goods store in Montgomery, Alabama in 1844. His brothers Emanuel and Mayer joined six years later and named the business Lehman Brothers. The Lehmans accepted cotton, the cash crop of the time, from the local farmers as currency, and traded the cotton for cash or merchandise. In that way, they became brokers of the crop.

- The U.S. Civil War interrupted Lehmans' business. After the conflict was over, the brothers moved their operations to New York.

- American Express acquired Lehman Brothers in 1984 and merged the financial institution with its unit Shearson. Nine years later, Shearson was spun off and the independent firm once again became known as Lehman Brothers. In 1994, the investment bank began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

- Lehman Brothers had 25,935 employees as of the end of August, down from 28,783 at the end of August 2007.

- Lehman had more than $45 billion of mortgages and asset-backed securities on its books as of the end of August, an amount well in excess of the company's net worth. The bank has about $600 billion of assets and some $30 billion of equity, meaning a 5 percent decline in assets would wipe out the company's value.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio and Dan Wilchins; Editing by Ted Kerr)