 Liberty Mutual Insurance's logo, featuring theStatue of Liberty | |
.jpg) Liberty Mutual's headquarters at 175 Berkeley Street inBoston (2025) | |
| Company type | Mutual.Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Insurance |
| Founded | July 1, 1912; 113 years ago (1912-07-01) (as Massachusetts Employees Insurance Association) |
| Headquarters | 175 Berkeley Street ,Boston, Massachusetts U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Timothy M. Sweeney(President andCEO) |
| Services | Property and Casualty Insurance |
| Revenue |  $48.2 billion (2021)[1][2] |
 $1.282 billion (2019) | |
| $3.068 billion (2021) | |
| Total assets | $156.043 billion (2021) |
| Total equity | $27.848 billion (2021) |
Number of employees | 45,000+ (2021) |
| Website | libertymutualgroup libertymutual |
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, often referred to asLiberty Mutual Insurance, is an American diversified global insurer and the sixth-largestproperty andcasualty insurer in the world.[3] It ranks 87th on theFortune 100 list of largest corporations in the United States based on 2024 revenue.[4] Based inBoston, Massachusetts, and featuringFrédéric Auguste Bartholdi'sStatue of Liberty (formallyLiberty Enlightening the World) on its logo, it employs over 45,000 people in more than 900 locations throughout the world. As of December 31, 2021, Liberty Mutual Insurance had $156.043 billion in consolidated assets, $128.195 billion in consolidated liabilities and $48.2 billion in annual consolidated revenue.[5][6]
The company, founded in 1912, offers a wide range ofinsurance products and services, including personalautomobile,homeowners,workers' compensation, commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile,general liability, global specialty, group disability,fire insurance andsurety.[7][8]
Liberty Mutual Group owns, wholly or in part, local insurance companies inBrazil,Chile,China (includingHong Kong),Colombia,Ecuador,India,Ireland,Malaysia,Portugal,Singapore,Spain,Thailand, theUnited Kingdom, andVietnam. (In the UK, Liberty Mutual acts as the insurer forCountrywide Legal Indemnities).[9]
In theUnited States, Liberty Mutual remains amutual company in whichpolicyholders holding contracts for insurance are consideredshareholders in the company. However, Liberty Mutual Group'sbrand usually operates as aseparate entity outside the United States, where asubsidiary is often created in countries where legally recognizedmutual-company benefits cannot be enjoyed.
The current CEO is Timothy M. Sweeney. He succeeded his predecessorDavid H. Long on January 1, 2023.[10] Long was preceded by Edmund "Ted" Kelly.[11] Kelly was appointed CEO in 1998,[12] and stepped down from the Board of Directors as chairman in April 2013.[13]
Liberty Mutual was founded in 1912 as theMassachusetts Employees Insurance Association (MEIA), following the passage of a 1911 Massachusetts law requiring employers to protect their employees withworkers’ compensation insurance.[14] The company was founded as a mutual company, a structure in which an insurance company is owned by its policyholders. The first branch office was opened in 1914, and later that year, the company wrote its firstautomobile insurance policy. The name was changed in 1917 to the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and, through partnerships, the company began offering full-coverage auto policies.
In 1964, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company began offering life insurance through its Liberty Life Assurance Branch. In 2002, the company converted into its currentmutual holding company structure, which would allow it to offer company's shares while remaining a mutual company. The conversion was controversial, as somepolicyholders believed the change would dilute their interest in the overall company, reduce their voting control, and limit their dividends. Alawsuit was filed, alleging that information provided to policyholders was misleading. Liberty Mutual settled the lawsuit in December 2001, which required additional disclosure and limited certain compensation to company officers and directors.[15] Despite these concerns, the plan was approved by voting policyholders around November 2001. Leveraging the greater flexibility of the mutual holding company structure, Liberty Mutual transformed from a single-line, highly regional insurer to one of the world's leading property and casualty insurance companies.[16]
Liberty Mutual's growth has been both organic and throughacquisition. Early acquisitions were small, but Liberty Mutual has made several large acquisitions over the past decade, including the high-profile acquisition ofSafeco Corporation in 2008. Liberty Mutual agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Safeco for $68.25 per share, for a total transaction price of approximately $6.2 billion. The result of this activity was an increase in revenue from $6 billion to over $30 billion in twelve years. In 1999, the company purchased Wausau Insurance Cos.[17]
Liberty Mutual created a 2006television commercial depicting people doing good for others, reporting that the "overwhelming" positive response led to its decision to create the websiteThe Responsibility Project.[18] Liberty Mutual is the solecorporate sponsor of the long-runningPBSdocumentary seriesAmerican Experience. In 2011, as part of the company's "Real America" campaign, the company introduced two new commercials featuringSacagawea andPaul Revere.[19][20]
In 2011, the company began constructing theLiberty Mutual Tower, a 22-storyskyscraper as part of a headquarters expansion project.[21] The building received itscertificate of occupancy in June 2013.[22]
In May 2017, Liberty Mutual Insurance completed its acquisition ofBermuda-based Ironshore Inc. from Fosun International Limited for $2.93 billion.[23] In October 2019, Liberty Mutual acquired Nationale Borg, Nationale Borg Reinsurance and AmTrust Insurance Spain, which are credit and surety reinsurance subsidiaries ofAmTrust Financial Services.[24]
In July 2021, Liberty agreed to acquireState Auto Group for over $2 billion.[25] In August 2022, Liberty acquired AmGeneral Insurance Berhad, a Malaysia insurance company.[26][27]
Liberty Mutual conducts all of its business through twostrategic business units: US Retail Markets, and Global Risk Solutions.[28]
Passenger automobile, homeowners, life, annuity and other property and casualty insurance products are available via Liberty Mutual's US Consumer Markets line. These products are branded under the Liberty Mutual Insurance andSafeco names, and are distributed via a network of more than 2,300 sales professionals. Other distribution means are call centers, third-party producers and the company's own website. Over 10,000 insurance agencies across the U.S. carry Safeco-branded products.[29]
The Global Risk solutions insurance line offers commercial and specialty products, such as marine, energy, aviation, professional liability and crisis management, offered through 40 Liberty International Underwriters offices worldwide. In addition, Liberty International Underwriters provides global multi-line insurance and reinsurance written on itsLloyd's Syndicate 4472 platform. Global Specialty also includes reinsurance products offered through Liberty Mutual Reinsurance.[29]
Founded in 1954, the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety studied theoccupational safety and health of workers. Its scientific contributions include machine safeguarding guidelines, theCornell-Liberty Survival Car andergonomic guidelines that have informed the basis for national and internationalsafety standards. More recently, the institute developed the Workplace Safety Index, an annual ranking of the leading causes of the most disablingoccupational injuries in the U.S.
The institute'sscientists conductedfield and laboratory experiments to study the major causes of work-related injury anddisability, publishing their results inpeer-reviewedscientific literature. Institute findings are the basis for safety programs, recommendations andsoftware used by Liberty Mutual loss-control consultants to help policyholders enhance worker safety. The institute’s work was non-proprietary and available to the public.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37]
The institute closed in May 2017.[38]
In 2006, Liberty Mutual employees in the Los Angeles area sued, claiming that the company had failed to pay their overtime salaries. They attempted to certify aclass-action suit, but it was dismissed on technical grounds.[39]
In late 2012, the company won an appeal granting it the ability to not pay employees for work performed on an overtime basis.[40] Liberty Mutual relied on anamicus brief filed on behalf of theU.S. Department of Labor.[41] The court decided, based on the brief, that claims personnel are exempt "administrative employees" and not eligible for overtime pay. In late 2012, theSupreme Court of Californiadepublished a contrary decision on the same issue.[42]
In 2012 and 2013,The Boston Globe published a series of articles concerning Liberty Mutual executives' excessive compensation and weekend trips using the company's fleet of five long-range corporate jets.[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]
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LiMuEmu, a character that is represented using a real emu as well as throughCGI, appears in some of Liberty Mutual's advertising beginning in 2019.[51] LiMu is also accompanied by Doug, portrayed by David Hoffman,[52] who tries to keep LiMu from acting out. Occasionally, LiMu and Doug will have a potential client in the office and type up a policy while LiMu looks on approvingly.On February 9, 2023, Liberty Mutual began advertising as Liberty at the end of its commercials.
Tanner Novlan has appeared in several commercials, alone as well as with "Doug", as a "struggling actor" who has trouble reciting basic facts about the company, especially its name ("Liberty Bibberty" and so on).
Various commercials are on a deck overlooking theNew York Harbor with theStatue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) in the background.
Liberty Mutual has a jingle repeating “Liberty” four times composed byElias Music which can be viewedhere. There’s even a Spanish version called Liberty Segurosherewhere Spanish people sing the jingle with a spanish announcer then saying "Liberty Seguros. Juntos en los momentos importantes." In this version “Liberty Seguros” replaces the watermark for “Liberty Mutual”.[53]
