Loews Corporation traces its roots to 1946, when Laurence Tisch persuaded his parents to invest $125,000 in a resort hotel in Lakewood, New Jersey. After his brother Robert joined Laurence, the Tisch brothers began to invest their profits into an expanding hotel business. In 1960, using the profits from their hotel empire, the Tisch brothers gained control of Loews Theaters, one of the largest movie house chains at the time. Over the 50-year period from 1962 to 2012, Loews's common stock posted a compound annual growth rate of approximately 15 percent, compared with an approximate six percent growth rate for the S&P 500.