Talk:The Hartford/Archives/2014

History
The Hartford was originally founded in 1810 in Hartford, Connecticut. A group of local merchants gathered in a Hartford inn and, with working capital of $15,000, founded the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. The company survived some of the greatest peacetime tragedies in America’s history. After a huge fire destroyed New York’s financial district in 1835, The Hartford’s president, Eliphalet Terry, used his personal wealth to cover all of the company’s damage claims. Other catastrophic events included the Chicago fire of 1871 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

Aquisitions, divestitures and related changes

 * 1913: Formed The Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company to provide a wide variety of insurance coverage, including accident, automobile-liability, personal-damage, business-interruption and more.
 * 1959: Expanded into the life-insurance business by acquiring The Columbian National Life Insurance Company in Boston, Massachusetts.
 * 1970: The Hartford was acquired by ITT Corporation for $1.4 billion, at the time the largest corporate takeover in American history. The combined company was renamed ITT-Hartford Group, Inc.
 * 1995: ITT decided to streamline its operations and release some of its subsidiaries, and The Hartford became an independent entity once again, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HIG."
 * 1997: Changed name from ITT-Hartford Group, Inc. to The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., and also issued an IPO for its Hartford Life business under the ticker symbol “HLI.”
 * 2000: Reacquired all the shares of Hartford Life (HLI was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2006).
 * 2004: Purchased the Group Benefits Division of CNA Financial. The division was based in Chicago, Illinois.
 * March 2012: Announced it would focus on property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds, and would sell its wealth management businesses.
 * 2013: Sold its life insurance business to Prudential, retirement plans to MassMutual, and a broker-dealer to AIG.

U.S. Paralympics
The Hartford has been associated with U.S. Paralympics since 1994, and became a founding partner of the organization in 2003.

Local civic improvement
In 2010, the company announced a $7 million investment in Hartford's Asylum Hill neighborhood, which has housed the corporate headquarters for over 90 years. Sponsored initiatives focus on education, community support services and neighborhood revitalization.

External Recognition
In 2008, the Ethisphere Institute named The Hartford one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the first time, and was subsequently recognized in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Suggested eliminations from the article

 * The following content lacks lasting relevance beyond its original publishing period circa 2005. Within a given year, any corporation will receive multiple legal inquiries from states, federal governance bodies and classes. Likewise, company Public Relations or Marketing activities could be innumerable and of little relevance to the average reader unless particularly newsworthy or with lasting cultural relevance and/or fame (either positive or negative).
 * None of the below speak to any trend associated with the company, e.g. "history of legal investigations" or punctuated events, e.g. "famous ad campaign."
 * Refer to entries for Apple, Nike, Enron and AIG for full and balannced approaches to both fame and infamy.


 * On June 29, 2005, Hartford Financial Services Group said it was subpoenaed by the New York attorney general's office to provide records on its sale of the investment to that state's senior citizens.
 * On December 12, 2005, the company released its 2006 earnings guidance at an Investor Day in Boston.
 * On December 20, 2005, the company celebrated its 10-year anniversary as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange.
 * On December 22, 2005, the company commended Congress and President Bush for enacting critical legislation which would extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA).
 * On December 28, 2005, The Hartford's free 'Surviving Beyond Disaster' online webinar was available 24/7 to help mitigate loss and speed recovery.
 * In September 2009, Liam E. McGee was named chairman, president and CEO of the company, replacing Ramani Ayer. McGee joined The Hartford from Bank of America.
 * The Hartford celebrated its bicentennial in May 2010 with employees ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange.

Affiliations Suggest eliminating this section as well, since it is empty
Nobody


 * References and external links would align to proposed edits

Improving layout and content parity approximating articles on other companies
Southeastwesteast (talk) 22:05, 18 March 2014 (UTC):Examining this page in comparison with those for other U.S. corporations, the structure / formatting could be adjusted to enhance legibility, and contents edited to reflect themes or trends rather than one-off events (e.g. public relations activities or legal inquiries rather than rulings).
 * I am an employee of this company, but have read guidelines for COI, and am suggesting edits in accordance with what I think is an appropriately neutral approach.
 * Recommended edits follow below for main content.

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG), usually known as The Hartford, is a Fortune 500 company and one of America’s largest investment and insurance companies. Headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, The Hartford's 2013 revenues were $26.2 billion. The company’s earnings are divided between property-and-casualty operations, group benefits and mutual funds.

The Hartford is the 12th-largest property & casualty company in the United States, based on direct written premium. The Hartford sells its products primarily through a network of independent agents and brokers, and has been the direct auto and home insurance writer for AARP’s members for more than 25 years.

The company's product offerings include:
 * Auto and homeowner's insurance
 * Business insurance including workers' compensation, auto, property, general and professional liability
 * Mutual funds (sub-advised by Wellington Management)

The Hartford's current CEO is Liam E. McGee, who succeeded Ramani Ayer in October 2009.