Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) and its 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, and administration and asset management. In 1981, the company acquired Bache & Co., a stock brokerage service now operating as a wholly owned subsidiary. Prudential 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 $1.9 trillion dollars of life insurance.

History

Started in Newark, New Jersey in 1875, Prudential Financial, as it is known today, was originally called the "Friendly Assurance Company" and was founded by John F. Dryden, who later became a U.S. Senator. It sold one product, industrial life insurance.

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. Slogans "Own a Piece of the Rock" and "Strength of Gibraltar" are also still quite widely associated with Prudential. The former slogan was dropped for a time during the mid-1980s, due to jokes related to the death of actor Rock Hudson from AIDS-related cancer.

Prudential has evolved from a mutual insurance company (owned by its policyholders) to a stock company. It is now traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PRU.

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 created a major new force in financial services. This acquisition highlighted 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 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.

Diversity

Prudential received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 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.