ERNY Financial Becomes Reality Shares Inc.

SAN DIEGO-In an effort to better represent the firm's philosophy, locally based ERNY Financial has formally changed its name to Reality Shares Inc. The new name reflects the company's mission and marks the beginning of a new marketing approach, including a new website with expanded functionality to be launched later this year.

According to the firm, its mission is to create real investment vehicles to invest directly in the fundamentals of a company—its earnings, dividends and cash flow. The name shift is intended to change the way people think about investing by tying investment performance to company performance.

 “We are very excited about the launch of our new corporate name to Reality Shares, which more accurately reflects our company identity,” says According to Eric Ervin, CEO and president of Reality Shares. “We are proud of the direction of the company as we continue to position ourselves for accelerated growth.”

 “We believe investment success should be based on reality, not popularity,” adds Ryan Ballantyne, director of capital markets for the firm. “Stock prices are based on public opinion, which can at times reward the worst and punish the best companies. Predicting the future growth of a company should lead to success in investing, not predicting the whims of the market.”

Name changes have not been uncommon to this industry of late. As GlobeSt.com reported in June, Revel began a new chapter on New Jersey's Atlantic City boardwalk, changing its name to the Revel Casino Hotel and launching a new aggressive marketing strategy to attract gamblers to the property. Also as we reported in June, the CRE conduit loan origination platform co-founded by Larry Brown and known as Archetype Mortgage Capital when it was under the umbrella of LNR is now known as Starwood Mortgage Capital, a moniker reflecting its integration into Greenwich, CT-based Starwood Property Trust, which acquired it in April as part of its $1-billion acquisition of LNR.