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This article is about the American company. For the British company, see Prudential plc. For places named after the company, see Prudential.
 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[1]. Its logo is the Rock of Gibraltar.
[edit] HistoryStarted 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 Rock of Gibraltar, is one of the most recognized corporate symbols in the world.[2] The use of the rock began after an advertising agent passed Laurel Hill, a volcanic neck, in Secaucus, New Jersey on a train in the 1890s.[3] The related slogans "Get a Piece of the Rock" and "Strength of Gibraltar" are also still quite widely associated with Prudential, though current advertising uses neither of these.  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. 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 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[4]. 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.[5] On November 28, 2007, Prudential Financial board of directors elected a new CEO
[edit] Investor Fraud
During the 1980s and 1990s, Prudential Securities Incorporated (PSI), formerly a division of Prudential Financial, was investigated by the SEC for suspected fraud.[7] During the investigation, it was found that PSI had defrauded investors of close to $8 billion, the largest fraud found by the SEC in US history to that point.[8] The SEC charged that Prudential allowed rogue executives to cheat customers on a large scale and blithely ignored a 1986 SEC order to overhaul its internal enforcement of securities laws. [9] In all, some 400,000 individual investors lost money on the deals.[10] Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979495,00.html?iid=chix-sphere#ixzz0VzfLwyWl Prudential eventually settled with investors for $330 million.[7] Prudential said it would repay customers across the U.S. who lost money on the company's limited partnerships in the 1980s. In addition, the firm was required to pay another $41 million in fines. [11] The settlement also resolved investigations of the firm by the National Assn. of Securities Dealers and 49 states, including California, where 52,000 investors lost money in Prudential limited partnerships.[12]
[edit] Ratings, awards and The Prudential FoundationPrudential 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 [14]. In 2008 Prudential was crowned In-House of the Year - Insurance In-House Team of the Year at the 2008 ALB Hong Kong Law Awards[15]. 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 organization[citation needed]. The Foundation also supports the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. [edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
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