Towers Watson & Co. was a global

professional services Professional services are occupations in the service sector requiring special training in the arts or sciences. Some professional services, such as architects, accountants, engineers, doctors, and lawyers require the practitioner to hold professi ...

firm. Its principal lines of business were risk management and

human resource consulting The human resource consulting industry has emerged from management consulting and addresses human resource management tasks and decisions. HR Consultants can fill two typical roles (1) Expert Resource Consultant (2) Process/People consultant. These ...

. It also had actuarial and investment consulting practices. In January 2016, Towers Watson merged with

Willis Group Willis Group Holdings plc was a multinational risk advisor, insurance brokerage and reinsurance brokerage company with its headquarters in the Willis Building in London until its merger of equals with financial services company Towers Watson i ...

to form

Willis Towers Watson Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company is a British-American multinational insurance advisor company. The company was founded in 2016, following a merger of the Willis Group and Towers Watson. Overview WTW operates in more than 140 co ...

Overview

Towers Watson was formed on January 4, 2010, by the merger of

Towers Perrin Towers Perrin was a professional services firm specializing in human resources and financial services consulting, which merged in January 2010 with Watson Wyatt to form Towers Watson. The firm was a provider of reinsurance intermediary services a ...

and

Watson Wyatt Worldwide Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. was a global consulting firm that merged in January 2010 with Towers Perrin to form Towers Watson. The firm's services included managing the cost and effectiveness of employee benefit programs; developing attraction ...

. The merger created the world's largest employee-benefits consulting firm by revenue. Towers Watson has 14,000 employees in 35 countries and is expected to have revenue of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

3.6 billion per year. Towers Watson's

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and chairman of the

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

is John Haley, the former CEO of Watson Wyatt. The firm's first

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

, president, and deputy chairman was Mark Mactas, the former CEO of Towers Perrin.

History

Towers Watson is the successor to R. Watson & Sons, which was formed in the UK in 1878. B. E. Wyatt founded The Wyatt Company as an actuarial consulting firm in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

with seven co-founders in 1946. The two firms formed a global

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under the

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

Watson Wyatt Worldwide in 1995 and formally merged in August 2005. Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby was established in the U.S. in 1934: in 1987, the company shortened its name to Towers Perrin. On June 28, 2009, the two firms announced they would merge, pending approval by shareholders and regulatory agencies, in a

merger of equals Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

. Regulatory approval was granted by

anti-trust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

divisions of the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and the

E.U. The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

, and stock-owners overwhelmingly approved the merger in separate meetings on December 18. In November 2010, Towers Watson signed a definitive agreement to acquire

EMB Consultancy EMB Consultancy, also known as EMB Actuaries and Consultants, is an international actuarial business consultancy and software provider. EMB was originally established as a strategic and actuarial advisor to non-life insurers. The company has dev ...

. EMB specialized in property & casualty consulting. EMB also had software dealing with pricing, reserving, spatial smoothing analysis, capital and risk modelling. The deal was completed as of February 1, 2011.

Merger

On June 30, 2015, Towers Watson announced it would merge with

to create

. The combined company operates in 140 countries, with a workforce of approximately 43,000 employees, revenues of $8.2 billion and a value of $18 billion. This merger was approved by both firms' shareholders on December 11, 2015. The merger was concluded on January 5, 2016, after all regulatory approvals were received.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Actuarial firms Consulting firms established in 2010 International management consulting firms Management consulting firms of the United States Human resource management consulting firms 2010 establishments in Virginia