Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Overview

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is a global insurance brokerage, risk management, and consulting services firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1927, it provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage, employee benefits and human capital consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services to businesses, institutions, and individuals. Its operations are organized primarily around brokerage and risk management activities, with brokerage spanning commercial insurance placement, reinsurance, risk-of-loss management, and employer-sponsored benefits programs.[1]+4

Gallagher operates in the insurance and risk-services sector with a broad international footprint. The company has direct operations in 60 countries and serves clients in approximately 130 countries through its owned operations and network of correspondent brokers and consultants. Its largest geographic markets include the United States and the United Kingdom, with additional significant operations in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In 2024, Gallagher generated about $11.6 billion in revenue and employed approximately 56,000 people, underscoring its scale as one of the larger global intermediaries in its field.[6]+3

The company’s stated mission is to provide superior, cost-effective risk management products and services that meet the changing needs of current and prospective clients, reflecting its focus on advisory-led insurance, benefits, and claims capabilities.[9] [1]+8

Products & services

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s product set is centered on insurance placement and related consulting. In retail brokerage, which represented 73% of brokerage segment revenue in 2024, it places nearly all lines of commercial property/casualty and health and welfare coverage, including aviation, casualty, claims advocacy, commercial auto, cyber liability, dental, directors & officers liability, errors & omissions, fiduciary services, marine, medical, professional liability, property, surety bond, wind, and workers’ compensation, along with consulting capabilities such as healthcare analytics, exchange solutions, human resources, executive benefits, institutional investment, loss control, retirement, and voluntary benefits.[10][11] Its employee-benefits-related services also include health and welfare benefits, compensation, retirement planning, actuarial and compliance work, private insurance exchange, human resources technology, communications, and benefits administration.[5] Gallagher organizes much of this offering through niche/practice groups that account for about 79% of retail brokerage revenue, including Affinity, Construction, Energy, Healthcare, Financial Institutions, Marine, Nonprofit, Public Sector, Technology & Communications, and Trade Credit/Political Risk.[12][13]

Its wholesale insurance brokerage business, which accounted for 14% of brokerage segment revenue in 2024, focuses on specialized and hard-to-place insurance for retail brokers and other non-affiliated brokers.[14] In some cases, Gallagher acts as a brokerage wholesaler; in others, it acts as a managing general agent or managing general underwriter, distributing specialized insurance coverages and performing functions such as marketing, underwriting without assuming underwriting risk, issuing policies, collecting premiums, appointing and supervising agents, paying claims, and negotiating reinsurance.[15] Its reinsurance business, Gallagher Re, represented 13% of brokerage segment revenue in 2024 and offers reinsurance placement supported by catastrophe modeling, dynamic financial analysis, rating agency analysis, and capital modeling, plus capital markets services such as insurance-linked securities, weather derivatives, capital raising, and selected M&A advisory.[16]

The risk management segment, which accounted for 14% of company revenue in 2024, provides contract claim settlement, claim administration, claims management, loss control services, insurance property appraisal, and broader risk management consulting for commercial, nonprofit, captive, and public sector clients, as well as self-insured organizations.[17][18] These services are monetized through per-claim, per-service, cost-plus, and performance-based fee arrangements.[17] Gallagher also offers alternative risk products by developing and managing captives, rent-a-captives, and deductible plan/self-insurance structures, and by providing captives, pools, risk-retention groups, healthcare exchanges, and small underwriting enterprises with accounting, claims and loss processing assistance, feasibility studies, actuarial studies, data analytics, and other administrative services.[19][20] [10]+11

Geographic presence

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. generates most of its revenue in the United States, which accounts for about 64% of combined brokerage and risk management revenue, with the remaining 36% generated internationally, primarily in the U.K., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In 2024, reported revenue by geography was $7.43 billion in the U.S., $2.23 billion in the U.K., $574.6 million in Australia, $416.0 million in Canada, $210.2 million in New Zealand, and $700.8 million in other foreign markets.[21][22]

Its brokerage operations run through more than 580 sales and service offices across the U.S. and about 350 sales and service offices in roughly 60 countries, with most non-U.S. offices concentrated in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K. The company states that it can serve clients in about 130 countries through its own operations and a network of correspondent brokers and consultants. Outside the U.S., it operates as a retail commercial property and casualty broker from 45 locations in Australia, 42 in Canada, 37 in New Zealand, and about 100 in the U.K.; it also maintains specialty, wholesale, underwriting, and reinsurance intermediary operations in London.[23]+3

The risk management segment manages third-party claims adjusting through more than 40 offices across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. As of December 31, 2024, the company had about 56,000 employees, with approximately 43% in the U.S. and 57% outside the U.S. Corporate employees are based primarily at the headquarters in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and at Gallagher Centers of Excellence in India; the Rolling Meadows campus has about 360,000 square feet and capacity for 2,000 employees.[26]+2 [21]+8

Business segments

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. officially reports three segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. In 2024, Brokerage contributed approximately 86% of total revenue, Risk Management approximately 14%, and the Corporate segment did not generate significant revenue, so the company’s segment mix is overwhelmingly weighted toward Brokerage.[21][28]

The Brokerage segment is the company’s main operating segment and is primarily made up of retail, wholesale, and reinsurance brokerage operations. Its activities include placing insurance coverage and providing data analytics, risk-shifting, risk-sharing, and risk-mitigation consulting; placing reinsurance and providing certain capital markets services; acting as agent or broker for underwriting enterprises; advising on health and welfare benefits, executive benefits, compensation, retirement, investment, actuarial, compliance, and HR-related services; and providing management and administrative services for captives, pools, risk-retention groups, healthcare exchanges, and smaller underwriting enterprises.[29]+5

The Risk Management segment focuses on contract claim settlement, claim administration, loss control services, and risk management consulting for commercial, nonprofit, captive, and public sector clients, especially organizations that self-insure or outsource claims handling. Within that segment’s 2024 revenue mix, about 61% came from workers’ compensation-related claims, 34% from general and commercial auto liability-related claims, and 5% from property-related claims. The Corporate segment is not a client-facing operating business; it mainly captures debt, external acquisition-related expenses, other corporate costs, and foreign-currency remeasurement effects.[17]+2 [21]+9

Company history

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. was founded in Chicago in 1927 by Arthur J. Gallagher, and it was later reincorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1972.[36][37] Another landmark came in 1997, when Gallagher merged with Rollins Burdick Hunter.[38]

Leadership continuity has been an important part of the company’s history: J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr. began as an intern in 1972, joined full time in 1974, became president and chief operating officer in 1990, chief executive officer in 1995, and chairman in 2006.[39][40] Over time, acquisitions became a central growth strategy, with the company stating that it completed approximately 750 acquisitions from 2002 through 2024.[41] A notable later milestone came in 2021, when Gallagher agreed to acquire Willis Towers Watson’s treaty reinsurance brokerage operations, significantly expanding its reinsurance business.[42] [37]+6

Sources

• Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. — Full financial report (2024 Y)
  37 citations

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• www.ajg.com[9]
• www.ajg.com[36]
• www.ajg.com[38]
• www.ajg.com[39]
• investor.ajg.com[42]