Towers Watson
American professional services company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Towers Watson & Co. was a global professional services firm that provided risk management services, human resource consulting, actuarial services, and investment management. The company operated in 37 countries. Customers included 92% of Fortune Global 500 companies and 84% of Fortune 1000 companies.[1]
 Logo from 2010 to 2016 | |
| NYSE: TW | |
| Industry | Professional services |
| Predecessor | Towers Perrin Watson Wyatt Worldwide |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Fate | Merged with Willis Group |
| Successor | Willis Towers Watson |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Global |
Key people | John J. Haley (chairman, president, and CEO) |
| Services | Employee benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management |
| Revenue |  US$3.644 billion (2015) |
| US$384 million (2015) | |
| Total assets |  US$5.394 billion (2015) |
| Total equity | US$2.932 billion (2015) |
Number of employees | 16,300 (June 30, 2015) |
| Footnotes [1] | |
In 2016, the company was acquired by Willis Group in a merger of equals to form Willis Towers Watson.
History
Towers Watson was formed on January 4, 2010, by the $4 billion merger of equals of Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt Worldwide. The merger created the largest employee-benefits consulting firm by revenue worldwide.[2][3][4][5]
Watson Wyatt Worldwide was formed by the 1995 alliance and 2005 merger between R. Watson & Sons (founded in 1878 by Reuben Watson) and The Wyatt Company (founded in 1946 by Birchard E. Wyatt).[6][7][8][9] Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby was established in the U.S. in 1934: in 1987, the company shortened its name to Towers Perrin.[6]
In February 2011, Towers Watson acquired EMB Consultancy. EMB specialized in property & casualty consulting. EMB also had software dealing with pricing, reserving, spatial smoothing analysis, capital and risk modelling.[10][11]
In May 2012, the company acquired Extend Health, a provider of health-care insurance services and the operator of the largest private Medicare health insurance marketplace, for $435 million.[12][13] In September 2013, IBM signed a contract to use the Extend Health platform for insurance services for it U.S retirees.[14]
In November 2013, the company sold its reinsurance brokerage business to Jardine Lloyd Thompson for $250 million.[15][16] That month, it also acquired Liazon, operator of the Bright Choices private health insurance marketplace, for $215 million.[17]
In May 2015, the company acquired Acclaris, a provider of software and services for consumer-driven health care and reimbursement accounts such as health savings accounts, for $140 million.[18][19]
In July 2015, the company sold its human resources service delivery practice to KPMG.[20]
In September 2015, the company acquired Brovada Technologies for $15 million.[21][22]
In 2016, the company was acquired by Willis Group in a merger of equals to form Willis Towers Watson.[6][23][24]