industry financial services founded february 10 1977 headquarters duluth ga united states key people glenn williams ceo 1 peter schneider president 1 john a. addison jr. chairman of distribution d. richard williams chairman alison s. rand cfo gregory c. pitts coo products term life insurance 2 mutual funds segregated funds annuities managed accounts long term care insurance legal services auto insurance homeowners insurance credit monitoring debt management plans revenue us 1.27 billion 2013 3 net income us 162.7 million 2013 3 total equity us 1.34 billion 2014 4 owner fidelity investments 9 % 5 kayne anderson rudnick 8 % 5 bamco 7 % 5 the vanguard group 7 % 5 number of employees 2 579 2015 6 website www.primerica.com www.primericabusinessopportunity.com www.primericacanada.ca primerica inc. is a united states based insurance and financial services company which uses multi level marketing 7 as of 2016 it reported 107 000 independent representatives . 3 primerica is headquartered in duluth georgia and conducts business principally in the united states canada and puerto rico . contents 1 business model 2 history 2.1 origin of primerica name 2.2 acquisition by commercial credit 2.3 travelers and citigroup era 2.4 separation from citi 2.5 initial public offering 3 technology 4 awards 5 see also 6 references 7 sources 8 external links business model primerica inc. is a multi level marketing company 8 which sells financial products and services using a hybrid model of direct selling franchising and distribution . 2 9 10 headquartered in unincorporated gwinnett county georgia 11 12 primerica spun off from its former parent company citi through an initial public offering on april 1 2010 . it is a financial services marketing organization in north america with approximately 90 000 independent representatives 13 including 22 000 financial industry regulatory authority finra series 6 licensed 2 through primerica s securities broker dealer affiliate pfs investments inc. in the united states and through pfsl investments canada ltd. in canada . the company focuses on the sale of term life insurance 2 as well as providing other financial products and services including mutual funds annuities segregated funds managed accounts long term care insurance pre paid legal services auto insurance home insurance credit monitoring and debt management plans . the company has more than 4.3 million life insurance clients and over 2 million client investment accounts . 13 history founded in 1977 by arthur l. williams jr. as a.l. williams & associates a.l. williams the company established its base by mass marketing the concept of buy term and invest the difference . 9 with btid the company illustrated how its mostly middle income client base could purchase sufficient protection with term life insurance and systematically save and invest in separate investment vehicles such as mutual fund individual retirement accounts . 2 a.l. williams was initially established as a privately held general agency at first selling term life insurance policies underwritten by financial assurance inc. fai . the company expanded outgrowing the capacity of fai to process its business . in 1980 a.l. williams entered into a contract with boston based massachusetts indemnity and life insurance company milico a larger underwriter of life insurance whose parent was penncorp financial services based in santa monica . to support a.l. williams headquartered in atlanta milico established a regional office in that city . in 1981 the company established first american national corporation later renamed the a.l. williams corporation as a holding company for first american life insurance later renamed a.l. williams life insurance company and first american national securities later renamed pfs investments inc . in 1982 the a.l. williams corporation alwc underwrote a public stock offering listed in the over the counter otc market under the symbol alwc . in 1983 the company became listed on the nasdaq exchange under the same symbol . origin of primerica name penncorp s growth due to milico s underwriting caught the attention of bill woodside chairman & ceo of american can company a former dow jones 30 blue chip can and container producing company based in greenwich connecticut founded in 1901 . 14 due to the growing rise of plastic as a replacement for aluminum cans the company looked to acquire financial services providers and move away from the dying manufacturing industry having acquired life insurance holding company associated madison from gerry tsai jr in 1982 . with this acquisition woodside created a new financial services division for american can and hired tsai who succeeded him as chairman & ceo as the new head . in september 1982 american can and penncorp signed a merger agreement . in 1983 the merger was finalized making american can the parent company of penncorp and milico signing a new contract with alwc through the year 2000 . in 1986 nelson peltz s triangle industries bought american can s packaging division along with rights to the name of the company . therefore on march 6 1987 american can announced that it would change its 86 year old name to primerica corporation 15 hence giving birth to the new and currently recognized name primerica . acquisition by commercial credit the newly named primerica corporation targeted smith barney as the first significant purchase that moved the company completely into financial services with the may 1987 announcement of its intent to buy the wall street brokerage for 750 million 16 which would later end up as primerica s sister company under citigroup in 1998 . 17 in 1985 alwc began the procedure to open business in canada . after encountering legal and cultural roadblocks to expanding outside the united states alwc began selling insurance products of pennsylvania life insurance company a primerica subsidiary in canada in 1986 . on november 30 1988 alwc acquired milico from primerica corporation through a stock merger acquisition for 44.58 million shares of alwc stock making primerica corporation the majority shareholder of alwc . in december 1988 sanford weill s commercial credit acquired primerica corporation for 1.54 billion retaining the primerica name . at this time the major businesses under primerica corporation were a.l. williams smith barney and commercial credit . on february 6 1989 primerica corporation began trading on the new york stock exchange . travelers and citigroup era in november 1989 primerica purchased the remaining 30 % of alwc that it did not previously own and the privately held general agent a.l. williams inc. in 1991 primerica corporation changed the name of a.l. williams to primerica financial services . the following year milico primerica s life insurance underwriter changed its name to primerica life insurance company and its broker dealer fans changed to pfs investments inc. 17 in december 1993 primerica acquired the remaining 73 % of travelers insurance corporation and adopted the name travelers inc. which was changed to travelers group the following year . 17 travelers group included primerica financial services smith barney travelers life and annuity travelers property casualty commercial credit and other financial businesses . joe plumeri was chairman and ceo of primerica financial services from 1995 to 1999 . 18 19 20 in 1998 primerica had net income of 398 million on net sales of 1.65 billion compared to a 1994 209 million net income on net sales of 1.28 billion . 21 in december 1997 primerica announced it was going to begin offering pre paid legal through pre paid legal services inc. at the time both subsidiaries of travelers group inc. 22 in 1998 the u.s. 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 . prior to the sec s ruling pfs investments inc. hired an independent consultant to review its supervisory and compliance policies and procedures to prevent and detect violations of the federal securities laws . by the date of the ruling pfs investments reported it had complied with the final recommendations made by the independent consultant . 23 in 1998 travelers group and banking giant 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 . along with primerica other major brand names under citigroup included citibank citifinancial citicorp trust bank smith barney and banamex . long time veteran executives john addison and rick williams whom art williams quoted in his book coach as two true sons of a.l. williams 24 were hired as co ceos in 2000 with glen williams promoted to president in 2005 . separation from citi citigroup attempted to sell primerica in 2008 25 having received several bids from life insurance companies and private equity firms interested in buying . 26 27 at the time the market value of the company was estimated to be 7 billion roughly 15 times its annual earnings 28 and citi was trying to match various bidders in groups that could bid for the unit together . initially a sale to jc flowers & co. llc and protective life corp was underway until the deal was canceled last minute for publicly undisclosed reasons . 29 in may 2009 the primerica executive team led by co ceos john addison and rick williams approached private equity firm j.c. flowers & co. yet again as well as blackstone group lp and tpg inc 25 in a new attempt to have the company bought a plan which citigroup did not endorse . 30 initial public offering on november 5 2009 citi announced that it intended to spin off primerica through an initial public offering . 31 the primerica executive and legal team filed an s 1 with the u.s. securities and exchange commission sec 32 having officially publicly announced the intention of becoming a public company . citi would claim all profit from the primary offering as well as continue to receive income from a significant portion of existing primerica business 33 with citi holdings ceo michael corbit claiming the move to be the best separation alternative for this franchise . 31 primerica filed a final amended s 1 and preliminary prospectus with the sec on march 17 2010 indicating that it will offer 18 million shares 34 to the public through the ipo with underwriters having the option to purchase an additional 2.7 million shares . the first trading occurred on april 1 2010 . initially the expected share price was in the 12 14 range having ended up being priced 15 a share on march 31 2010 35 resulting in citi raising 27 percent or 30 million more than 290 million projected through the ipo by selling 3.36 million more shares than the anticipated 18 million . 36 the first day of trading saw the stock surge 31 percent to end up closing at 19.65 a share . 37 in a separate offering private equity firm warburg pincus has bought 17.2 million shares resulting in a 23 percent stake in primerica and up to 33 percent if warburg decides to exercise warrants to purchase an additional 4.3 million shares from citi . following the ipo citi s stake was between 32 percent and 46 percent and expected to divest its interest in primerica as soon as possible 38 to fulfill its original goal of raising cash by shedding assets to improve financial performance . on december 19 2011 citigroup sold its remaining equity stake in primerica approximately 8 million shares of primerica s common stock completing the separation from citi . 39 technology in 2005 40 primerica began using palm based smartphone applications using the name turboapps 41 to allow representatives to obtain insurance quotes and file life insurance applications electronically . 42 43 turboapps was later expanded to support the windows mobile platform . 44 in november 2011 primerica released the primerica app which allows