Prudential Financial history

In 1881 Noah Blanchard died, and finally the directors elected John Dryden president by one vote.

In 1896, the company's advertising department created Prudential's long-standing logo and slogan: the Rock of Gibraltar accompanied by the words, "The Prudential has the strength of Gibraltar." Both were chosen to express the solidity of the products the company offered.

The company's image was further bolstered by the outcome of a New York state legislative committee investigation under Senator William W. Armstrong in 1905.

Prominent lawyer and future United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis helped pass a 1907 Massachusetts law to protect workers by allowing savings banks to sell life insurance at lower rates.

Prudential expanded to neighboring states, and in 1909 opened its first international branch in Toronto, Canada.

In 1911 insurance in force totaled $2 billion.

Dryden was president of Prudential until 1912.

Then, as a result of the 1918–19 influenza pandemic, Prudential paid out over $20 million for flu-related deaths.

In 1921, when he resigned, it exceeded $5.6 billion.

Corporate assets rose from $259 million to $830 million in 1922.

The group sales department was the brainchild of Edmund Whittaker, an actuary who had joined the company in 1928, and who conceived of actuaries as the "engineers of insurance."

Shanks had joined Prudential in 1932 and was known for his unorthodox methods.

By 1939, new net business in the overseas life branches was rivalling the success of the UK business, and Prudential’s international business continued to grow rapidly through the latter part of the 20th century.

In mid-1945 he drastically reorganized the Pru with massive decentralization.

In 1948, the first regional sales office in Los Angeles boosted revenue in that region by 20 percent.

For instance, in 1950 Prudential began buying common stocks after permissive legislation opened up this opportunity.

Beck joined Prudential in 1951 as an agent.

His successor as CEO and chairman of the board, 54-year-old Robert C. Winters, had joined Prudential in 1953.

In 1956 Shanks created a commercial and industrial loan department to seek out small business loans.

After 1958 the Pru ceased to buy bonds on the market and instead negotiated separate loans with corporations for higher rates, while the corporations received more rapid, less costly, and more flexible financing.

When Shanks retired in 1960 the Prudential board named Louis R. Menagh Jr. as chief executive officer.

The strategy was successful; by 1962, the life insurance industry averaged a return of 4.4 percent on all invested assets.

In 1964 Prudential had 3% of its assets in common stock and realized $75 million in capital gains.

In 1967, Prudential surpassed the Metropolitan as the world's largest insurance company; total Met assets amounted to $23.51 billion while Prudential announced $23.6 billion.

In 1968, it established PIC Realty Corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary that owned and leased commercial real estate through joint ventures with established real estate developers.

In 1973 the Pru formed Prudential Reinsurance Company (PRURE), insuring other insurance companies against extraordinary losses.

In 1974 Prudential purchased CNA Nuclear Leasing, renaming it Prudential Lease.

MacNaughton retired in 1978 and was succeeded as CEO by Robert Beck.

In 1979 Prudential signed with Sony Corporation to form Sony-Prudential to sell life insurance in Japan.

Beck’s most controversial acquisition came when he purchased the Bache investment and brokerage house in 1981.

When the 1986 tax reform act eliminated the rationale for the many tax shelters, customers quickly abandoned them.

In 1989, a difficult year for the Pru, Bache lost $48 million.

In November 1990, Prudential-Bache announced that it was cutting back on its investment banking operation by about two-thirds, having made the decision to reorganize the firm to focus on its strengths in the retail brokerage business.

In early 1991, with losses totaling more than $250 million and amid lawsuits relating to selling real estate limited partnerships, Ball resigned.

In 1993 profits reached nearly $800 million.

When Elizabeth Krupnick arrived at Prudential Insurance Company of America in June 1994 to take over as chief communications officer, she inherited advertising that she called "mediocre at best." She also inherited one of the most identifiable icons in advertising: the rock.

Albo, Amy. "Open Door Policy (How Commercials are Produced at Fallon McElligott)." Shoot, December 13, 1996.

The settlement, approved by a New Jersey district court judge in 1997, led to an eventual payment in excess of $2 billion.

Prudential ranked as the largest life insurer in terms of assets in the United States in 1998.

With more than 50 000 employees in more than 20 countries, Prudential Financial is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world, according to Forbes.

Prudential becomes a public company on December 13, the first NY Stock Exchange IPO after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.

In 2002, it acquired a 50 percent stake in Oppenheim Funds Trust GmbH and Oppenheim Investment Management International.

On August 1, 2004, the United States Department of Homeland Security announced the discovery of terrorist threats against the Prudential Headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, prompting large-scale security measures that included concrete barriers outside the premises and internal X-ray machines.

The company stood as the third-largest provider of adviser-sold variable annuity products in the United States upon completion of the purchase. It also pledged to cut nearly $600 million in expenses and achieve 12 percent return on equity (ROE)--a measure used to analyze operating performance--by 2005.

In 2006, Prudential acquired Allstate Financial's variable annuity business for $591 million.