American multi-level marketing insurance company
Primerica's headquarters building
Primerica, Inc.
is a
multi-level marketing
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
company that provides
insurance
,
investment
and
financial services
to middle-income families in the United States and Canada.
[8]
[9]
[10]
Primerica is the parent company of National Benefit Life Insurance Company, Primerica Life, Peach Re, and Vidalia Re.
[8]
[11]
Primerica acquired e-Telequote in July 2021.
[12]
[13]
The company that would become Primerica was founded in 1981. Primerica had its
initial public offering
in 2010.
[14]
[15]
Primerica's headquarters are located in
Duluth, Georgia
.
[16]
History
In 1980, A.L. Williams (founded in 1977)
[17]
entered into a contract with
Boston
-based Massachusetts Indemnity and Life Insurance Company (MILICO), an
underwriter
of life insurance and a subsidiary of
Santa Monica
?based PennCorp Financial Services. In 1981, the company established First American National Corporation as a holding company for First American Life Insurance and First American National Securities. These companies were later renamed The A.L. Williams Corporation, A.L. Williams Life Insurance Company, and PFS Investments, Inc, respectively. In 1982, The A.L. Williams Corporation (ALWC) was listed on the
Over the Counter
(OTC) market under the symbol ALWC. In 1983, the company became listed on the
NASDAQ
exchange under the same symbol.
PennCorp finalized a merger agreement with
American Can Company
in 1983, and became its subsidiary along with MILICO. In 1986 Triangle Industries bought American Can's packaging division and the rights to the company's name. In 1987 American Can changed its name to Primerica Corporation,
[18]
with
Gerald Tsai
as CEO, the first Chinese American to lead a member of the Dow Jones Industrials.
[19]
[20]
In December 1988,
Sanford Weill
's Commercial Credit acquired Primerica Corporation for $1.54 billion, retaining the Primerica name.
[21]
[22]
On February 6, 1989, Primerica Corporation began trading on the
New York Stock Exchange
.
[23]
Throughout the next ten years, Primerica Corporation's affiliated companies A.L Williams, MILICO, and FANS changed their names to Primerica Financial Services, Primerica Life Insurance Company, and Primerica Financial Services Investments, respectively.
[24]
In December 1993, Primerica fully acquired Travelers Insurance Corporation and adopted the name Travelers Inc., which was changed to
Travelers Group
the following year. Travelers Group included Primerica Financial Services,
Smith Barney
, and other financial businesses.
Joe Plumeri
was Chairman and CEO of Primerica Financial Services from 1995 to 1999.
[25]
[26]
[27]
In 1998, Primerica had net income of $398 million on net sales of $1.65 billion.
[28]
In December 1997, Primerica announced it was going to begin offering
pre-paid legal
through
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
, at the time a
subsidiary
of
Travelers Group, Inc
.
[29]
In 1998, the
US Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) censured and fined PFS Investments Inc., the securities arm for Primerica, for failure to properly supervise a group of registered representatives in
Dearborn, Michigan
. The SEC found that PFS Investments Inc. had failed to have in place effective policies and procedures to follow up adequately on three complaints received about the Dearborn registered representatives, "selling away" activities. By the date of the ruling, PFS Investments reported it had complied with the final recommendations made by the independent consultant.
[30]
In 1998, Travelers Group and Citicorp merged creating
Citigroup
(
NYSE
:
C
). Primerica and its affiliates continued to operate as subsidiaries of Citigroup, although the Travelers insurance business was spun off in 2002.
[31]
Citigroup
attempted to sell Primerica in 2008,
[32]
having received several bids from life insurance companies and
private equity
firms interested in buying.
[33]
[34]
At the time the market value of the company was estimated to be $7 billion.
[35]
JC Flowers & Co. LLC
and
Protective Life Corp
began to purchase the company but the deal was canceled for undisclosed reasons.
[36]
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
, in 2020, Primerica paid out $1.7 billion in death claims. This was a 15.8% increase over 2019.
[37]
The financial services company ended 2021 with $900 billion in active
term life insurance
.
[38]
Initial public offering
On November 5, 2009, Citi announced that it intended to
spin off
Primerica through an
initial public offering
.
[39]
The first trading occurred on April 1, 2010, priced at $15 a share the day before trading.
[14]
[15]
Citi raised $320 million through the IPO.
[40]
[41]
[42]
[
better source needed
]
In a separate offering, private equity firm
Warburg Pincus
bought a 23 percent stake in Primerica, and had the option to purchase an additional 10 percent stake from Citi.
[43]
On December 19, 2011, Citigroup sold its remaining equity stake in Primerica.
[44]
Primerica was listed by
Forbes
as one of "America's 50 Most Trustworthy Financial Companies" in 2015.
[45]
In July 2021, Primerica acquired e-Telequote, a health insurance marketer.
[12]
[13]
Products and business model
A Primerica convention in 2007
Primerica uses a
multi-level marketing
strategy, with eleven tiers of representatives and recruiters selling financial products and services for commission.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
The company primarily sells
term life insurance
,
[1]
as well as other financial services including auto and home insurance,
mutual funds
, and
credit monitoring
.
[46]
[8]
In 2010, Primerica was reported to have over 100,000 representatives selling the company's financial products, with individual earnings averaging $5,156 per year.
[4]
Some people working for Primerica and similar multi-level marketing organizations reported that they ended up losing money, due to the fees they had to pay.
[7]
In 2012, Primerica was the target of multiple lawsuits alleging that the company's representatives sought to profit by earning commissions after convincing Florida firefighters, teachers, and other public workers to divest from safe government-secured retirement investments to high-risk retirement products offered by Primerica. In January 2014, the company announced that it was working on a settlement with up to 238 plaintiffs, for $15.4 million.
[47]
See also
References
- ^
a
b
"
Company Overview
"
- ^
"US SEC: Form 10-K Primerica, Inc"
.
US Securities and Exchange Commission
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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(PDF)
.
- ^
a
b
c
Veneziani, Vince (April 1, 2010).
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.
Business Insider
.
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b
Chittum, Ryan (March 9, 2012).
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.
Columbia Journalism Review
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.
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Celarier, Michelle (May 9, 2016).
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.
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"MLMs Are Using Coronavirus Anxiety To Exploit The Quarantined And Unemployed"
.
HuffPost
. May 29, 2020
. Retrieved
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2024
.
- ^
a
b
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"SEC 10-K 2014"
.
- ^
Primerica Financial Services, Inc (May 27, 2008).
"Project No. R511993. Comment of Primerica Financial Services, Inc. on the revised notice of proposed rulemaking on the Business Opportunity Rule R511993"
(PDF)
.
Federal Trade Commission
. pp. 3?4, 12
. Retrieved
January 18,
2016
.
Primerica suggests three modifications to the RPBOR, to better assure that the regulatory language actually achieves the clear intent of the Revised Notice that the Rule exclude multi-level marketing opportunities like those offered by Primerica and by many members of the Direct Selling Association...This will exclude most or all multi-level marketing companies, since most of them (like Primerica) prohibit upline agents from imposing fees on their downlines
- ^
Licensing, Dow Jones Reprints &.
"WSJ | COVID-19 Expands Life Insurance Purchases Beyond Wealthy"
.
Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
"Primerica the Beautiful: Business observes 20 years"
. November 5, 2017.
- ^
a
b
Bellini, Martina (April 22, 2021).
"Primerica's $600 Million Acquisition of e-TeleQuote"
. Retrieved
October 25,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Bell, Allison.
"Primerica Agrees to Acquire Etelequote: Deals"
.
ThinkAdvisor
. Retrieved
October 25,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Sweet, Ken (April 1, 2010).
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.
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. Archived from
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on April 3, 2010
. Retrieved
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2010
.
- ^
a
b
Saporta, Maria.
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.
- ^
"Primerica opens 4th St. Cloud-area office"
.
St. Cloud Times
. Retrieved
September 17,
2018
.
- ^
"
'CRUSADE' FOR TERM INSURANCE"
.
Sun Sentinel
. March 21, 1986
. Retrieved
February 10,
2022
.
- ^
"American Can Picks a Name"
.
The New York Times
. March 7, 1987
. Retrieved
January 26,
2008
.
- ^
Richardson, Robert (March 21, 2021).
"Progress Health: Primerica Regional VP offers tips to stay financially fit in 2021"
.
- ^
"Pioneering fund manager Gerald Tsai is dead"
.
InvestmentNews
. July 11, 2008
. Retrieved
August 16,
2021
.
- ^
"Commercial Credit Agrees to Purchase Primerica for $1.7 Billion in Cash, Stock"
.
Los Angeles Times
. August 30, 1988
. Retrieved
March 4,
2021
.
- ^
Vise, David A. (August 30, 1988).
"COMMERCIAL CREDIT GROUP TO BUY PRIMERICA CORP"
.
Washington Post
.
ISSN
0190-8286
. Retrieved
March 4,
2021
.
- ^
SEC.
"Travelers Inc 1994 Annual Report 10-K"
.
SEC.report
. Retrieved
March 4,
2021
.
- ^
Forbes
. Forbes Incorporated. 1991.
- ^
"Plumeri next Willis CEO; Former Citigroup executive to succeed Reeve"
. Business Insurance. October 2, 2000. Archived from
the original
on September 10, 2012
. Retrieved
July 15,
2010
.
- ^
"Willis chief discusses changes in financial services.(Willis Group Ltd. CEO Joseph J. Plumeri)(Interview)"
. Business Insurance. January 15, 2001
. Retrieved
July 15,
2010
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
"Joseph J. Plumeri Profile"
.
Forbes
. Archived from
the original
on October 31, 2010
. Retrieved
July 15,
2010
.
- ^
Nash, Jeff (April 19, 1999).
"The Chief Preacher: Joe Plumeri ? Citibank Finds Sales Religion"
.
Investment News
. Retrieved
July 16,
2010
.
- ^
"Primerica Financial Services to Offer Legal Plans Through Pre-paid Legal Services, Inc"
.
Business Wire
. December 19, 1997
. Retrieved
August 20,
2007
.
- ^
"SEC Release No.40269 - July 28, 1998"
.
- ^
Williams, Art
; Karen Kassel Hutto (June 2006).
Coach
.
Atlanta, Georgia
: Art Williams Productions.
ISBN
0-9786266-0-5
.
- ^
Fineman, Josh (January 15, 2009).
"Primerica Said to Drop Citigroup References on Cards, Brochures"
.
Bloomberg
. Retrieved
January 18,
2009
.
- ^
Bansal, Paritosh (June 6, 2008).
"Citi gets initial bids for Primerica unit: sources"
.
Reuters UK
. Retrieved
June 15,
2008
.
- ^
"Primerica prepares to be taken off Citi's map"
.
TheDeal.com
. June 6, 2008
. Retrieved
June 15,
2008
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
Wahba, Phil (September 5, 2008).
"Citi could sell Primerica, Texas business: Ladenburg's Bove"
.
Reuters
. Retrieved
October 26,
2010
.
- ^
Magpily, Gerald (December 11, 2008).
"Primerica sale is a bust for Citi"
.
TheDeal.com
. Archived from
the original
on May 3, 2009
. Retrieved
January 3,
2009
.
- ^
Scism, Leslie (December 9, 2021).
"WSJ News Exclusive | Covid Spurs Biggest Rise in Life-Insurance Payouts in a Century"
.
Wall Street Journal
.
ISSN
0099-9660
. Retrieved
February 10,
2022
.
- ^
Bell, Allison (January 4, 2022).
"COVID-19 Driving Group Life Deaths Past 200-Year Event Levels"
.
Think Advisor
. Retrieved
February 9,
2022
.
- ^
Barr, Alistair (November 5, 2009).
"Citigroup files for IPO of Primerica unit"
.
MarketWatch
. Retrieved
November 15,
2009
.
- ^
Tsang, Michael (March 31, 2010).
"Primerica Raises $320 Million in IPO Selling Shares Above Range"
.
Bloomberg
. Retrieved
April 1,
2010
.
- ^
Baldwin, Maria Aspan, Clare.
"Citi spinoff Primerica soars on hopes for economy"
.
Reuters
. Retrieved
March 4,
2021
.
{{
cite news
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Tsang, Michael (April 1, 2010).
"Primerica Jumps on First Day After $320 Million IPO (Update3)"
.
BusinessWeek
. Archived from
the original
on April 3, 2010
. Retrieved
April 1,
2010
.
- ^
"Citigroup To Sell Stake In Primerica"
.
BusinessWeek
. March 17, 2010. Archived from
the original
on October 7, 2012
. Retrieved
April 1,
2010
.
- ^
"Primerica Announces "Refounding" IPO Process is Complete"
.
Barron's Online
. Retrieved
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2012
.
- ^
Dill, Kathryn.
"America's 50 Most Trustworthy Financial Companies"
.
www.forbes.com
. Retrieved
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2015
.
- ^
Gara, Antoine.
"The Best Insurance Companies In Every State 2021"
.
Forbes
. Retrieved
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2021
.
- ^
Kass, Arielle.
"Primerica hopes to settle complaints"
.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
. Retrieved
March 4,
2021
.
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