BizAims

Since 1875, Prudential Financial has helped people achieve financial security and peace of mind. The success is based on a long history of social responsibility, strong leadership, sound investments and innovative products and services.

The Prudential Friendly Society, founded by insurance agent John Fairfield Dryden, was founded in a basement office at 812 Broad Street in downtown Newark, N.J. It was the first company in the U.S. to make life insurance available to the working-class. The company sold Industrial Insurance, which provided funeral and burial expenses for low-income families, with some weekly premiums as low as three cents.

Acquisitions and divestitures. In 1981, the company acquired Bache & Co., a stock brokerage service that operated as a wholly owned subsidiary until 2003, when Wachovia and Prudential combined their retail brokerage operations into Wachovia Securities, with Prudential a minority stake holder. In 1999, Prudential sold its healthcare division, Prudential HealthCare, to Aetna for $1 billion. On May 1, 2003, Prudential formalized the acquisition of American Skandia, the largest distributor of variable annuities through independent financial professionals in the United States. The CEO of American Skandia, Wade Dokken, partnered with Goldman Sachs and sold the division to Prudential for $1.2 billion. The combination of American Skandia variable annuities and Prudential fixed annuities was part of Prudential’s strategy to acquire complementary businesses that help meet retirement goals.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the United States and in over 30 other countries. Principal products and services provided include life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, pension- and retirement-related investments, administration and asset management, securities brokerage services, and commercial and residential real estate in many states of the U.S. It provides these products and services to individual and institutional customers through distribution networks in the financial services industry. Prudential has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America and has organized its principal operations into the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world and, based on total assets, the largest insurance company in North America. Along with its primary business, insurance, the company also operates in securities, investments, residential real estate, employee benefits, home mortgages, and the corporate relocation industry. In 1999 Prudential was in the process of reorganizing as preparation for a transition to demutualization and public ownership, pending regulatory approval, in 2000.

The Move to Go Public in the Year 2000

In 1998, Ryan went before New Jersey's insurance commissioner to lobby for passage of a law that would allow a mutual insurance company to sell shares to the public.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world and, based on total assets, the largest insurance company in North America. Along with its primary business, insurance, the company also operates in securities, investments, residential real estate, employee benefits, home mortgages, and the corporate relocation industry. In 1999 Prudential was in the process of reorganizing as preparation for a transition to demutualization and public ownership, pending regulatory approval, in 2000.

Unprecedented Growth and Scandal: 1980s

Throughout the 1980s, Prudential continued to search for ways to maximize income from its investments. In 1981, the company formed Property Investment Separate Account, a vehicle to enable pension funds to invest in real estate.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world and, based on total assets, the largest insurance company in North America. Along with its primary business, insurance, the company also operates in securities, investments, residential real estate, employee benefits, home mortgages, and the corporate relocation industry. In 1999 Prudential was in the process of reorganizing as preparation for a transition to demutualization and public ownership, pending regulatory approval, in 2000.

Opportunities Amidst Inflation and Stagflation: 1970s

When the New Jersey legislature revised insurance laws in 1967, it broadened the operations of life insurance companies, permitting them to offer fire and casualty coverage, individual variable annuity plans, direct investment in real estate, investment management services, mortgage investing, and to own or lease business or communication equipment. Prudential took advantage of these new opportunities; inflation was corroding the pay checks of U.S. workers and fewer customers wanted policies that pledged fixed payments.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world and, based on total assets, the largest insurance company in North America. Along with its primary business, insurance, the company also operates in securities, investments, residential real estate, employee benefits, home mortgages, and the corporate relocation industry. In 1999 Prudential was in the process of reorganizing as preparation for a transition to demutualization and public ownership, pending regulatory approval, in 2000.

Investment Strategies for the 1960s

Under Shanks, Prudential also revised its investment strategies. Shanks consistently looked for niches where Prudential could risk a small amount yet increase its average return much above that of its competitors.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world and, based on total assets, the largest insurance company in North America. Along with its primary business, insurance, the company also operates in securities, investments, residential real estate, employee benefits, home mortgages, and the corporate relocation industry. In 1999 Prudential was in the process of reorganizing as preparation for a transition to demutualization and public ownership, pending regulatory approval, in 2000.

A New Era of Decentralization in the 1940s

In 1946 Prudential entered a new era. Carroll M. Shanks took office as Prudential's seventh CEO. At 40, he was the youngest president since Dryden.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world and, based on total assets, the largest insurance company in North America. Along with its primary business, insurance, the company also operates in securities, investments, residential real estate, employee benefits, home mortgages, and the corporate relocation industry. In 1999 Prudential was in the process of reorganizing as preparation for a transition to demutualization and public ownership, pending regulatory approval, in 2000.

Mutualizing and Surviving: 1910s--30s

However, control of the company became and remained a problem during Forrest Dryden's term. Its huge resources and conservative investment philosophy made Prudential's assets look appealing to potential purchasers. Tired of fending off corporate suitors and raiders, the board took its first steps to make the company mutual and sell the company to its policyholders.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world and, based on total assets, the largest insurance company in North America. Along with its primary business, insurance, the company also operates in securities, investments, residential real estate, employee benefits, home mortgages, and the corporate relocation industry. In 1999 Prudential was in the process of reorganizing as preparation for a transition to demutualization and public ownership, pending regulatory approval, in 2000.

A Major Innovator in Life Insurance: 1870s--1900s

A Yale dropout named John F. Dryden established the forerunner of Prudential in 1873, naming it the Widows and Orphans Friendly Society.

OM Group, Inc. - Overcoming Challenges in the New Millennium

OM entered the new millennium intent on remaining a leading force in the industry. This strategy was demonstrated in 2001 when the company made a play for Degussa Metals Catalysts Cerdec AG (dmc2), a precious metals and metals management concern. The $1.08 billion deal was finalized in the fall of that year and significantly expanded OM's operations.

Unfortunately, the synergies expected from the union failed to materialize and OM was left with a growing debt load. At the same time, sales of cobalt were faltering due to lack of demand from the aerospace industry; according to the company, this industry generally consumed nearly 40 percent of the world's cobalt production. Nevertheless, company management remained optimistic and continued to forecast positive results. When the company reported an unexpected $71 million third-quarter loss in 2002, however, shareholders took immediate action.

OM Group looked forward to reaping the benefits of increased capacity, a strategic partnership, and acquisitions in the mid- to late 1990s. In 1994, the company invested $19.7 million in a physical plant, increasing its capacity to produce specialty chemicals vital to the manufacture of rechargeable nickel-hydride and lithium-ion batteries for the growing array of portable electronic cellular phones, laptop computers, and cordless tools. The mid-1995 creation of D&O Inc., a Japan-based joint venture between OM and Dainippon Ink & Chemicals Inc., was a key component of this strategy. OM hoped that its cooperative enterprise would capture 15 percent of the $470 million Japanese market for cobalt-nickel inorganic compounds by the dawn of the 21st century.

OM Group, Inc. - Family Succession and Corporate Reorganization: 1970-90

Seventh of the founder's 14 children, James P. Mooney emerged as the one with the interest and intelligence needed to run the family business. Having been immersed in the cobalt trade from childhood (he dined with African mining executives as a teenager, for example), the younger Mooney joined the company in 1971 at the age of 23. Just four years later, he advanced from a sales position to join three of his brothers at the company's top executive offices. That is when the patriarch, who had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, retired and moved to Florida.

With Rengo’s acquisition of Settsu Corporation, the paperboard/corrugated board industry began to undergo reformation and establish a production system in line with demand. Meanwhile, increasing globalization of the economy this century and greater interest in environmental protection have resulted in calls for packaging that has a reduced impact on the environment in the form of conserving resources and energy.

Furthermore, people’s lifestyles have become increasingly diversified and sophisticated due to the growth, particularly in Japan, of mail order and package delivery services, as well as the dramatic expansion of the Internet, and there is also a demand for packaging with new functions to meet the needs of food safety and hygiene.

Rengo had been expanding the scope of its operations through such means as technological innovations, development of new products and capital participation with the aim of becoming a general packaging manufacturer, and starting in 1986, the company gradually entered peripheral areas of the corrugated board business. For example, it began the manufacture and sale of water-absorbing mats and other types of non-woven cloth in 1986