An offering of Shearson stock netted $1.9 billion.

American Express Co. reported proceeds of $580 million from the initial public offering of 18 million shares in its Shearson Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. investment subsidiary. The firm earlier had sold 13 million shares of cumulative preferred stock in Shearson to Nippon Life Insurance Co. for $508.3 million, so proceeds from the sales totaled nearly $1.9 billion. American Express said it would use the proceeds from the public offering for general corporate purposes, including investment in existing businesses.