On February 5, 1997 the company merged with Dean Witter Discover & Co., the spun-off financial services business of Sears Roebuck. Dean Witter's Chairman and CEO, Philip J. Purcell, continued to hold the same roles in the newly merged "Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co." Morgan Stanley’s president John J. Mack became the firm’s president and chief operating officer. In 1998, the name of the firm was changed to "Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co." Originally, the name was chosen to be the combination of the two predecessor companies in order to avoid tension between the two firms. Eventually in 2001 "Dean Witter" was further dropped and the name became "Morgan Stanley" for unrevealed reasons.