Prudential Financial

Infobox_Company
company_name = Prudential Financial, Inc.
company_
company_type = Public (nyse|PRU)
company_slogan = Growing and Protecting Your Wealth
foundation = Newark, New Jersey, 1875
location = Newark, New Jersey
key_people = John Strangfeld, Chairman and CEO
num_employees = 39,422
products = Financial Services
homepage = [http://www.prudential.com/ www.prudential.com]

Prudential Financial, Inc. (nyse|PRU) 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. In 1981, the company acquired Bache & Co., a stock brokerage service now operating as a wholly owned subsidiary. 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.

Prudential is composed of hundreds of subsidiaries and holds more than $2 trillion of life insurance [ [http://www3.prudential.com/annualreport/report2008/annual/HTML2/prudential_ar2007_0002.htm Prudential Financial 2007 Annual Report ] ] . Its logo is the Rock of Gibraltar.

History

Started in Newark, New Jersey in 1875, Prudential Financial, Inc. as it is known today, was originally called the "The Widows and Orphans Friendly Society" and was founded by John F. Dryden, who later became a U.S. Senator. It sold one product in the beginning, burial insurance. John F. Dryden was president of Prudential until 1912. He was succeeded by his son Forrest F. Dryden, who was the president until 1922.

A history of The Prudential Insurance Company of America up to about 1975 is the topic of the book "Three Cents A Week", referring to the premium paid by early policyholders.

Prudential's logo, The

In 1999, Prudential sold its healthcare division, Prudential HealthCare, to Aetna for $1 billion.

Prudential has evolved from a mutual insurance company (owned by its policyholders) to a joint stock company. It is now traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PRU. The Prudential Stock was issued and started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on December 13, 2001. On October 16, 2007 the Fox Business Channel picked Prudential as part of its Fox50 Index.

On May 1, 2003, Prudential formalized the acquisition of [http://www.americanskandia.prudential.com American Skandia] , the largest distributor of variable annuities through independent financial professionals in the United States.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.

In April 2004, the company acquired the retirement business of CIGNA Corporation.

On August 1, 2004, the U.S. Office of Homeland Security announced the discovery of terrorist threats against the Prudential Financial headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, prompting large-scale security measures such as concrete barriers and internal security changes such as X-ray machines [cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E2D7163CF930A3575BC0A9629C8B63|title=A Surprise at Prudential: It's a Terror Target|publisher=New York Times] .

On August 28, 2006, federal and state securities regulators and the Department of Justice announced parallel settlements and a total of $600 million in monetary sanctions against Prudential Securities, Inc. (now known as Prudential Equity Group ) for misconduct relating to improper market timing. [ [http://www.finra.org/PressRoom/NewsReleases/2006NewsReleases/P017277 NASD News Release] ]

On November 28, 200] , Prudential Financial board of directors elected a new CEO

"The board of directors of Prudential Financial Inc. has elected a new chief executive officer.Vice chairman John R. Strangfeld will take the reins of the Newark-based insurance and financial services company on Jan. 1. Strangfeld, 53, currently runs all of Prudential's U.S. businesses.He succeeds Arthur F. Ryan, who is retiring as CEO at the end of 2007. Strangfeld also will become chairman after Ryan retires from that job in May 2008." [ [http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071128/prudential_ceo.html?.v=2 Prudential Announces New CEO: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance ] ]

Ratings, awards and The Prudential Foundation

Prudential has received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign every year since 2003, the second year of the report. In addition, the company was named one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" in 2004 by "Working Mothers" magazine. According to Business Week's "The Best Places to Launch a Career 2008", Prudential Insurance was ranked #59 out of 119 companies on the list [cite web|url=http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/career_launch_2008/index.asp|title=Best Places to Launch a Career 2008|publisher=Business Week] .

In 2007, The Prudential Foundation provided over $450,000 in Prudential CARES Volunteer Grants to 444 nonprofit organizations worldwide. The Prudential CARES Volunteer Grants program recognizes individual and team volunteers based on a minimum of 40 hours of volunteer service per individual. Grants range from $250 to $5,000 for each award winner's charitable organizationfact|date=September 2008.

The Foundation also supports the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

References

*Scannell’s New Jersey’s First Citizens 1917-1918, Page 138

External links

* [http://www.prudential.com/ Prudential Financial Services]
* [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/40/40377.html Yahoo! - Prudential Financial, Inc. Company Profile]
* [http://finance.google.com/finance?q=pru&btnG=Search Prudential] on Google Finance
* [http://www.gstock.com/quote/pru.html Prudential Financial stock performance chart] by Gstock
* [http://r0k.us/insurance/gp/gpda.html#pcs Prudential Case Study] an analysis of Prudential's demutualization
* [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/1893.html Prudential Financial 2006 Fortune 500 Ranking]
* [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2007/snapshots/10208.html Prudential Financial 2007 Fortune Global 500 Ranking]
* [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/snapshots/10208.html Prudential Financial 2008 Fortune 500 Ranking]