Lincoln National Corporation is a
''Fortune'' 200 American
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
, which operates multiple
insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for LNC and its subsidiary companies.
LNC was organized under the laws of the state of
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
in 1968, and maintains its principal executive offices in
Radnor, Pennsylvania
Radnor is a community located approximately 13 miles west of Philadelphia, in the Main Line suburbs. It straddles Montgomery and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania. The community was named after Radnor, in Wales.
Radnor is home to Cabrini Univer ...
. The company traces its roots to its earliest predecessor founded in 1905.
In addition, LNC is the
naming rights
Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of ...
sponsor of
Lincoln Financial Field in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, home field of the
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...
of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
.
Operations
LNC divides operations into four business segments: annuities, life insurance, retirement plan services, and group protection.
The principal Lincoln subsidiaries are:
* Lincoln National Life Insurance Company
* Lincoln Life & Annuity Company of New York
* First Penn-Pacific Life Insurance Company
* Lincoln Financial Distributors
* Lincoln Financial Advisors
* Lincoln Financial Securities
On December 31, 2016, LNC had consolidated assets under management of $262 billion and consolidated shareholders’ equity of $14.5 billion.
History
Founding and early history
Lincoln traces its origin to June 12, 1905, in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, as the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company. Perry Randall, a Fort Wayne attorney and entrepreneur, suggested the name "Lincoln," arguing that the name of
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
would powerfully convey a spirit of integrity. In August, 1905
Robert Todd Lincoln provided a photograph of his father, along with a letter authorizing the use of his father's likeness and name for company stationery and advertising.
In 1928, LNC president Arthur Hall hired Dr. Louis A. Warren, a Lincoln scholar, and in 1929, LNC acquired one of the largest collections of books about Abraham Lincoln in the United States. The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne was the second largest Lincoln museum in the country. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...
is now the world's largest museum dedicated to the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, after the closing of the Fort Wayne Lincoln Museum June 30, 2008.
Ian Rolland started with Lincoln in 1956, and became president of Lincoln National Life in 1977. When Rolland retired in 1998, new president Jon A. Boscia moved LNC to Philadelphia and started using the Lincoln Financial Group name for marketing. Lincoln National Life, the largest subsidiary, and the Lincoln Museum remained in Fort Wayne.
1990–2007
Lincoln Reinsurance was the first US
reinsurance
Reinsurance is insurance that an insurance company purchases from another insurance company to insulate itself (at least in part) from the risk of a major claims event. With reinsurance, the company passes on ("cedes") some part of its own ins ...
company; it was sold to
Swiss Re in 2001. K&K Insurance Specialties was the first to insure events like
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
races; it was sold to
AON
Aon or AON may refer to:
* Aon (mythology), son of Poseidon in Greek mythology
* ''Aon'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Erebidae
* Aon (trigraph), a Latin trigraph
* "Aon", a composition by jazz pianist Harold Mabern, 1968
Business and ...
in 1993.
Safeco bought American States, a property/casualty insurance business because Lincoln was primarily in life/health. However, LNC even sold a block of disability income business to
MetLife
MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produc ...
in 1999, as it narrowed its focus.
Lincoln moved its headquarters from Indiana to Philadelphia in 1999.
[Blumenthal, Jeff.]
Lincoln sells Delaware Investments
" ''Philadelphia Business Journal
American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor New ...
''. Wednesday August 19, 2009. Modified Thursday August 20, 2009. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. In Philadelphia Lincoln was headquartered in the West Tower of
Centre Square in
Center City.
Lincoln Financial was naming rights sponsor for the
2000 Rugby League World Cup which was held in England.
Lincoln Financial Group purchased the Administrative Management Group, Inc. based in Arlington Heights, Illinois in August 2002. Previously, AMG was a strategic partner of LFG for four years, providing recordkeeping services for the Lincoln Alliance product, a turnkey solution for "employer retirement and employee benefit programs, including investment choices, recordkeeping, plan design, compliance and employee retirement counseling and education."
In 2007, the company moved 400 employees, including its top executives, to Radnor Township from
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
.
Jefferson-Pilot acquisition
Following the acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot Corporation in March 2006, Lincoln Financial acquired group life, disability, and dental insurance divisions. Jefferson-Pilot Corporation was a
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
company based in
Greensboro, North Carolina founded in 1968 from the merger of Jefferson Standard Insurance (founded 1907 by Charles W. Gold and Pleasant D. Gold, Jr., sons of
Pleasant Daniel Gold) and Pilot Life Insurance (founded 1903). The two companies' association actually dated to 1945, when Jefferson Standard bought majority control of Pilot Life. The
Pilot Life headquarters built in the 1920s and located at 5300 High Point Road, "a careful replication of
the governor's mansion built in 1767 in
New Bern," was nominated to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2022. Clachan Properties of
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
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was buying the property to develop apartments. The insurance operations would continue to be headquartered in what became the
Lincoln Financial Building.
Lincoln Financial also acquired Jefferson-Pilot's television and radio operations, which were renamed
Lincoln Financial Media. Jefferson Standard Insurance put
WBTV in
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
on the air on Channel 3 in 1949. At the time, Jefferson Standard Insurance also had a 16.5% interest in the Greensboro News Company, licensee of
WFMY
WFMY-TV (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Piedmont Triad region. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Phillips Avenue in Greensboro, an ...
, which signed on from Greensboro two months after WBTV. Jefferson Standard had purchased
WBT radio from CBS in 1947. In 1970, the media interests were folded into a new subsidiary, Jefferson-Pilot Communications, still owned by the insurance company. The broadcasting subsidiary acquired several other radio and television stations across the country, with WBTV serving as the company's flagship station. The group owns 18 radio stations in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
;
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...
;
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
; and
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...
. It also owned
WBTV, the
CBS affiliate in Charlotte;
WCSC-TV
WCSC-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located in the West Ashley section of Charleston, and its transmitter is locat ...
, the CBS affiliate in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
and
WWBT, the
NBC affiliate in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
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, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
. In June 2007, the company publicly announced it would explore a sale of this division, and hired Merrill Lynch to assess its strategic options. It was announced on November 12 that
Raycom Media purchased the three TV stations, including its sports production division, which was the co-holder to football and basketball games in the
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...
with Raycom and sole rightsholders to the
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
until 2009, when
ESPNPlus and
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...
acquired the rights. The Raycom Sports brand was merged with LFS as of January 1, 2008.
Though billed as a merger of equals, the merged company carries the LNC name, operates from the LNC offices, with current LNC stockholders holding 61% of the stock, and current LNC directors controlling the new board. The insurance division is based in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Recent activity
Lincoln purchased Newton County Loan and Savings in order to restructure as a
bank holding company and qualify for
Troubled Asset Relief Program
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President ...
(TARP) funding.
In January 2009, Lincoln sold its
Delaware Investments subsidiary to
Macquarie Group
Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia' ...
. Delaware Investments was integrated into Macquarie's global asset management arm, Macquarie Funds Group effective January 5, 2010.
Insurance patent
Lincoln National is the owner of , “Method and apparatus for providing retirement income benefits”. This patent covers methods for administering
variable annuities. Lincoln's commercial products that are covered by this patent include their i4LIFE Advantage and 4LaterSM Advantage annuities.
In September 2006, Lincoln filed a
patent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...
lawsuit against
Transamerica Life Insurance Company for allegedly infringing its
insurance patent. A similar lawsuit was filed against
Jackson National Life
Jackson National Life Insurance Company (often referred to as simply Jackson) is a U.S. company that provides annuities for retail investors and fixed income products for institutional investors. Jackson subsidiaries and affiliates provide specia ...
in October 2007.
On Feb. 19, 2009, a jury found the Lincoln patent valid and infringed by Transamerica et al. Damages were assessed at the "reasonable royalty rate" and Transamerica et al. were ordered to pay Lincoln $13 million, or 0.11% of the over $12 billion in assets they had under management by virtue of infringing the patent.
Affiliations
Lincoln Financial Group is the grand sponsor of the
National Forensic League and its
National Speech and Debate Tournament.
See also
*
Lincoln Financial Media—subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation that owns radio stations in the United States
References
External links
Lincoln Financial Foundation official website
{{Authority control
1905 establishments in Indiana
Companies based in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Lincoln Financial Group
Lincoln National Corporation is a ''Fortune'' 200 American holding company, which operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for LNC and its sub ...
Insurance companies of the United States
Life insurance companies of the United States
Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania