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MetLife
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with around 90 million customers in over 60 countries. The firm was founded on March 24, 1868. MetLife ranked No. 43 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
On January 6, 1915, MetLife completed the mutualization process, changing from a stock life insurance company owned by individuals to a mutual company operating without external shareholders and for the benefit of policyholders. After 85 years as a mutual company, MetLife demutualized into a publicly traded company with an initial public offering in 2000. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia's Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East. MetLife serves 90 of the largest Fortune 500 companies.
MetLife's head offices and boardroom are located at the MetLife Building at 200 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and New York City which MetLife owned from 1981 to 2005; despite the sale, MetLife increased its leased footprint in the building beginning in 2015.
In January 2016, MetLife announced that it would spin off its U.S. retail business, including individual life insurance and annuities for the retail market, in a separate company called Brighthouse Financial, which launched in March 2017. The continuing MetLife company kept naming rights to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The predecessor company to MetLife began in 1863 when a group of New York City business leaders raised $100,000 (equivalent to $2,553,800 in 2024) to found the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company headquartered on lower Broadway. The company insured Civil War sailors and soldiers against disabilities due to wartime wounds, accidents, and sickness. Millions of "industrial" or workingman's policies were sold, costing five to ten cents a week, which were collected at the policyholder's home. On March 24, 1868, it became known as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and shifted its focus to the life insurance business.
The Chicago fire of 1871 that destroyed 2,000 acres and $200 million (equivalent to $5.25 billion in 2024) worth of property, severely affected the insurance companies, which were legally obligated but financially unable to cover losses. Then, severe business depression that began with the Panic of 1873 forced the company to contract, until it reached its lowest point in the late 1870s. After observing the insurance industry in Great Britain in 1879, MetLife President Joseph F. Knapp brought "industrial" or "workingmen's" insurance programs to the United States – insurance issued in small amounts on which premiums were collected weekly or monthly at the policyholder's home. By 1880, sales had exceeded a quarter million of such policies, resulting in nearly $1 million in revenue from premiums. In 1909, MetLife had become the nation's largest life insurer in the United States, as measured by life insurance in force (the total value of life insurance policies issued).
In 1890, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building was commissioned to serve as MetLife's home office on 23rd Street in Manhattan. The building was completed in stages through 1905. A clock tower was commissioned adjacent to the home office in 1907, and when completed two years later, the building was the world's tallest until 1913. The home office complex, which came to include the later art deco Metropolitan Life North Building, remained the company's headquarters until 2005. For many years, an illustration of the Metropolitan Life Tower (with light emanating from the tip of its spire and the slogan, "The Light That Never Fails") featured prominently in MetLife's advertising.
In 1905, a predecessor company, New England Life, lost a legal case, Pavesich v. New England Life Insurance Company, where they attempted to use an image of another person for promotion but this was ruled a breach of privacy and libelous: this case became a standardly cited case on privacy in US law.
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MetLife
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with around 90 million customers in over 60 countries. The firm was founded on March 24, 1868. MetLife ranked No. 43 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
On January 6, 1915, MetLife completed the mutualization process, changing from a stock life insurance company owned by individuals to a mutual company operating without external shareholders and for the benefit of policyholders. After 85 years as a mutual company, MetLife demutualized into a publicly traded company with an initial public offering in 2000. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia's Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East. MetLife serves 90 of the largest Fortune 500 companies.
MetLife's head offices and boardroom are located at the MetLife Building at 200 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and New York City which MetLife owned from 1981 to 2005; despite the sale, MetLife increased its leased footprint in the building beginning in 2015.
In January 2016, MetLife announced that it would spin off its U.S. retail business, including individual life insurance and annuities for the retail market, in a separate company called Brighthouse Financial, which launched in March 2017. The continuing MetLife company kept naming rights to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The predecessor company to MetLife began in 1863 when a group of New York City business leaders raised $100,000 (equivalent to $2,553,800 in 2024) to found the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company headquartered on lower Broadway. The company insured Civil War sailors and soldiers against disabilities due to wartime wounds, accidents, and sickness. Millions of "industrial" or workingman's policies were sold, costing five to ten cents a week, which were collected at the policyholder's home. On March 24, 1868, it became known as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and shifted its focus to the life insurance business.
The Chicago fire of 1871 that destroyed 2,000 acres and $200 million (equivalent to $5.25 billion in 2024) worth of property, severely affected the insurance companies, which were legally obligated but financially unable to cover losses. Then, severe business depression that began with the Panic of 1873 forced the company to contract, until it reached its lowest point in the late 1870s. After observing the insurance industry in Great Britain in 1879, MetLife President Joseph F. Knapp brought "industrial" or "workingmen's" insurance programs to the United States – insurance issued in small amounts on which premiums were collected weekly or monthly at the policyholder's home. By 1880, sales had exceeded a quarter million of such policies, resulting in nearly $1 million in revenue from premiums. In 1909, MetLife had become the nation's largest life insurer in the United States, as measured by life insurance in force (the total value of life insurance policies issued).
In 1890, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building was commissioned to serve as MetLife's home office on 23rd Street in Manhattan. The building was completed in stages through 1905. A clock tower was commissioned adjacent to the home office in 1907, and when completed two years later, the building was the world's tallest until 1913. The home office complex, which came to include the later art deco Metropolitan Life North Building, remained the company's headquarters until 2005. For many years, an illustration of the Metropolitan Life Tower (with light emanating from the tip of its spire and the slogan, "The Light That Never Fails") featured prominently in MetLife's advertising.
In 1905, a predecessor company, New England Life, lost a legal case, Pavesich v. New England Life Insurance Company, where they attempted to use an image of another person for promotion but this was ruled a breach of privacy and libelous: this case became a standardly cited case on privacy in US law.