type public traded as nyse trv dow jones industrial average component s & p 500 component industry insurance predecessor citigroup founded 1853 ; 163 years ago 1853 as st. paul fire & marine 2004 2004 as the travelers companies headquarters new york city new york united states 1 key people alan d. schnitzer ceo john dasburg executive chairman products insurance policies risk management revenue us 26.8 billion 2015 2 operating income us 3.437 billion 2015 2 net income us 3.439 billion 2015 2 total assets us 100.2 billion 2015 2 total equity us 23.598 billion 2015 2 number of employees approximately 30 000 2015 2 website travelers.com travelers tower in hartford connecticut the travelers companies is an american insurance company . it is the second largest writer of u.s. commercial property casualty insurance and the third largest writer of u.s. personal insurance through independent agents . travelers is incorporated in minnesota with headquarters in new york city and its largest office in hartford connecticut . travelers also maintains a large office in st. paul minnesota . 1 it has been a component of the dow jones industrial average since june 8 2009 . 3 the company has field offices in every u.s. state plus operations in the united kingdom ireland singapore china canada and brazil . in 2014 the company reported revenues of us 27 billion and total assets of us 103 billion . travelers through its subsidiaries and approximately 14 000 independent agents and brokers provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses government units associations and individuals . the company offers insurance through three segments personal insurance which includes home auto and other insurance products for individuals business insurance which includes a broad array of property and casualty insurance and insurance related services in the united states bond and specialty insurance which includes surety crime and financial liability businesses which primarily use credit based underwriting processes as well as property and casualty products that are predominantly marketed on an international basis . contents 1 history 2 alleged anticompetitive practices 3 national football league lawsuit 4 advertising 5 notable former employees 6 notes 7 external links history edit top the familiar umbrella logo of the travelers used until its spinoff from citigroup . bottom the logo that the st. paul used prior to the merger with travelers . the main predecessor companies of the travelers companies inc. are the st. paul companies inc. and travelers property casualty corporation . saint paul fire and marine insurance co. was founded march 5 1853 in st. paul minnesota serving local customers who were having a difficult time getting claim payments in a timely manner from insurance companies on the east coast of the united states . it barely survived the panic of 1857 by dramatically paring down its operations and later reorganizing itself into a stock company as opposed to a mutual company . it soon spread its operations across the country . in 1998 it acquired usf & g known formerly as united states fidelity and guaranty company an insurance company based in baltimore maryland but was forced to downsize by almost half due to a competitive marketplace . 4 travelers was founded in 1864 in hartford . it was originally founded to provide travel insurance to railroad travelers at a time when travel was far more risky and dangerous than today hence the name . along the way it had many industry firsts including the first automobile policy the first commercial airline policy and the first policy for space travel . 5 by the early 1990s travelers was predominantly a general property and casualty insurer that also happened to do some travel insurance on the side and it quietly exited its original business in 1994 . what was left of travelers travel insurance business was acquired by three former employees and is now known as travel insured international . the travelers logo ca. 1993 in the 1990s it went through a series of mergers and acquisitions . it was bought by primerica in 1993 6 but the resulting company retained the travelers name . in 1995 it became the travelers group . 5 it bought aetna s property and casualty business in 1996 . 7 in 1998 the travelers group merged with citicorp to form citigroup . 6 however the synergies between the banking and insurance arms of the company did not work as well as planned so citigroup spun off travelers property and casualty into a subsidiary company in 2002 8 although it kept the red umbrella logo . three years later citigroup sold travelers life & annuity to metlife . 9 in 2003 travelers bought renewal rights for royal & sunalliance personal insurance and commercial businesses . 10 in 2004 the st. paul and travelers companies merged and renamed itself st. paul travelers with the headquarters set in st. paul minnesota . in august of that year it was charged of misleading statements associated with the merger . 11 despite many assurances from ceo jay fishman that the newly formed company would retain the st. paul name the corporate name only lasted until 2007 when the company repurchased the rights to the famous red umbrella logo from citigroup and readopted it as its main corporate symbol while also changing the corporate name to the travelers companies . 12 13 notably many of travelers ancestor companies such as st. paul and usf & g are still around today and still write policies and accept claims but only on paper . as is typical of most insurers in the united states travelers never dissolved the various companies it acquired but simply made them wholly owned subsidiaries and trained its employees to act on behalf of those subsidiaries . this is a common risk management strategy used by u.s. insurance groups . if any one company in the group gets hit with too many claims the situation can be easily contained to that one company which is placed in runoff and allowed to run its policies to completion while the remainder of the group continues to operate normally . in november 2010 travelers entered into a joint venture agreement under which the company would invest in j. malucelli participa es em seguros e resseguros s.a. the market leader in the surety insurance business in brazil . the transaction closed in june 2011 with travelers acquiring a 43.4 percent interest . travelers investment in newly issued shares significantly increased j. malucelli s capital level positioning it for substantial growth in brazil . at the time travelers had the option to increase its investment to retain a 49.5 percent interest which the company later did in 2012 . 14 in june 2013 travelers announced the acquisition of dominion of canada general insurance company from e l financial corporation limited tsx elf . 15 the transaction later closed in november 2013 . the combined organization referred to as travelers canada remains headquartered in toronto . 16 the company s joint venture with j. malucelli in brazil completed the acquisition of a majority interest in cardinal compa a de seguros a colombian start up surety provider in september 2015 . the business which is based in bogot operates under the co branded name j. malucelli travelers . 17 in october 2015 travelers acquired a majority interest in the property casualty business of its j. malucelli joint venture in brazil . j. malucelli commenced writing property casualty business in 2012 . 18 the property casualty business operates under the travelers brand and focuses on property general liability construction and financial insurance products . the business is based in s o paulo . as a result of the transaction travelers now owns 95 percent of the property casualty business with paran banco the parent company of j. malucelli retaining a five percent interest . travelers interest in the surety business of the j. malucelli joint venture remains at 49.5 percent . 19 travelers is currently 116 on the fortune 500 20 list of largest u.s. companies . on june 8 2009 travelers replaced its former parent citigroup on the dow jones industrial average . on august 4 2015 the company announced that alan schnitzer would succeed jay fishman as chief executive officer effective december 1 2015 . 21 alleged anticompetitive practices edit in january 2007 travelers agreed to pay us 77 million to six states to settle a class action suit and end investigations into its insurance practices . 22 the charges involved paying the insurance broker marsh & mclennan companies contingent commissions to win business without the knowledge of clients thus creating a conflict of interest . 23 additionally the investigation examined whether travelers had created the illusion of competition by submitting fake bids 24 thus misleading clients into believing they were receiving competitive commercial premiums . 25 national football league lawsuit edit in august 2012 travelers sued the national football league for forcing the company and its subsidiaries to pay to defend the league for failing to protect players from brain injury in a case filed in the new york state supreme court called discover property & casualty co. et al. vs. national football league et al. new york state supreme court new york county no. 652933 2012 . the league had sued over three dozen insurance companies the week before in an attempt to cover the claims that players made against the league . 26 27 advertising edit st. paul travelers logo used until february 2007 the original logo of the red umbrella started in 1870 when it appeared in a newspaper ad for the young insurance company . it was revived in the early 1960s when it was given its signature red color by harry w. knettell then the account executive for the travelers and vice president at the charles brunelle advertising agency . during the late 1960s charles brunelle was the largest advertising agency in hartford a city known as the insurance capital of the world due to the many insurance companies in that town . the travelers was one of their many insurance company clients . 28 better source needed in 2006 a travelers commercial titled snowball was nominated for an emmy . snowball featured a man walking down a steep san francisco sidewalk who trips and knocks over a table of items at a garage sale . the man and the items roll down the street forming a ball which gathers garbage cans pedestrians construction materials motorcycles light poles and other items in a manner very reminiscent of the familiar cartoon snowball effect or the cult video game katamari damacy . 29 the creators of the ad say it is simply based on the snowball effect they have never heard of the game and that the resulting similarity was a surprise to them . 30 in 2007 the company secured naming rights for an annual event to be called the travelers championship golf tournament formerly the greater hartford open on the pga tour . in april 2008 the travelers purchased back the rights to the famous red umbrella which is featured in several commercials starring paul freeman as well as other advertisements . in july 2008 the spot delivery also starring freeman was nominated for an emmy . notable former employees edit edward budd former travelers chairman & ceo 31 32 robert i. lipp former travelers ceo 33 joe plumeri former travelers vice chairman former chairman & ceo of willis group holdings and owner of the trenton thunder 34 35 sandy weill former travelers chairman & ceo 36 37 notes edit a b travelers nyc address hq move a b c d e f travelers 2015 annual report 2015 . bloomberg.com gm citigroup replaced in dow by cisco travelers st. paul travelers profile new york times powered by vault . retrieved march 1 2007 . dead link a b citigroup history travelers a b primerica financial services history citigroup . retrieved march 2 2007 .