MetLife
A global provider of life insurance, annuities, employee benefits, retirement solutions, and related financial services.
Last updated August 21, 2026
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Overview
MetLife, Inc. is a publicly traded insurance and financial-services holding company whose principal operating business is the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and its affiliates. The group provides life insurance, annuities, retirement and savings solutions, employee-benefit programs, group insurance, dental and vision coverage, disability products, and related financial services. Its customers include individuals, employers, institutions, and public-sector organizations. MetLife is especially prominent in employer-sponsored benefits, where it serves large corporate and institutional clients as well as retail policyholders. The company traces its origins to a New York insurer established in 1863 to cover Civil War soldiers and sailors against wartime disability, accidents, and sickness. On March 24, 1868, the business adopted the name Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and concentrated on life insurance. In the late nineteenth century, MetLife helped popularize industrial life insurance in the United States: small policies were sold to working-class households, with premiums commonly collected weekly or monthly at the policyholder’s home. This distribution model helped the company build a very large policy base and become the leading U.S. life insurer by the early twentieth century. MetLife expanded beyond individual policies through group insurance, pensions, investments, and institutional products. Its historic investment portfolio included public-utility bonds, government securities, commercial real estate, and mortgage-related assets. The company financed or supported major New York developments, including the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center, and its former headquarters complex and Metropolitan Life Tower became prominent symbols in its advertising. MetLife’s familiar “Peanuts” characters, introduced in later brand advertising, also became strongly associated with the company. A major structural change occurred in 1915, when Metropolitan Life completed mutualization and became a policyholder-owned mutual insurer. After approximately 85 years as a mutual company, it demutualized in 2000 and completed a large initial public offering. The transaction enabled MetLife to operate as a shareholder-owned corporation and pursue broader acquisitions and business lines. In 2005, it acquired Travelers Life & Annuity and Citigroup’s international insurance businesses, substantially increasing its scale in North America and overseas. In 2010, MetLife bought American Life Insurance Company from AIG, adding a large international insurance platform. During the 2010s, MetLife narrowed its strategic focus. It sold MetLife Bank, exited banking, divested its mortgage-servicing business, and in 2017 separated its U.S. retail life-insurance and annuity operations into Brighthouse Financial. The continuing MetLife retained its institutional, group-benefits, international, and other insurance operations, while Brighthouse became a separate public company. In 2021, Farmers Group acquired MetLife’s U.S. property-and-casualty retail operation, including MetLife Auto & Home. MetLife remains an international insurance group with operations and affiliates across major global markets. Its business is organized around protecting income and assets, supporting employers’ benefits programs, managing retirement needs, and providing long-term insurance and investment products. The company continues to hold naming rights to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, although its historic New York headquarters property was sold and later occupied through leasing arrangements.
History
MetLife’s predecessor was established in New York in 1863 as the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company, offering coverage for soldiers and sailors exposed to wartime injuries, accidents, sickness, and disability. On March 24, 1868, it became Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and shifted its emphasis toward life insurance. The company initially struggled through the Chicago Fire and the economic depression following the Panic of 1873. In the late 1870s, President Joseph F. Knapp studied British industrial insurance and introduced a comparable working-class insurance model in the United States. Small policies, with premiums collected at customers’ homes, allowed MetLife to reach millions of households. The company grew rapidly during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its Metropolitan Life Tower headquarters, developed in stages from 1890 through 1909, became one of New York’s best-known commercial landmarks. By 1909, MetLife was the largest U.S. life insurer when measured by insurance in force, and by 1930 it insured a substantial share of the population of the United States and Canada. Its investment strategy also broadened. MetLife reduced its reliance on individual mortgages and increased holdings of government securities, public-utility bonds, commercial real estate, and other institutional assets. It helped finance the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center and invested heavily in war bonds during the Second World War. In 1915, Metropolitan Life completed mutualization, changing from a stock insurer into a mutual company operated for policyholders rather than outside shareholders. The postwar company expanded suburban operations, reorganized its agency system, and developed group insurance, pensions, personal insurance, and investment businesses. In 1981, it acquired the Pan Am Building at 200 Park Avenue and renamed it the MetLife Building; the company later sold the property while maintaining a major leased presence. MetLife pursued a broad acquisition strategy in the 1990s, buying or combining with businesses including New England Mutual Life, Security First Group, GenAmerica, and selected insurance operations. It demutualized in 2000 and became a public company through an initial public offering. The transaction created a widely held public insurer and gave policyholders a choice of cash or shares under the conversion process. Litigation concerning disclosures made during demutualization was settled in 2009. The company expanded substantially in the following decade. Its 2005 purchase of Travelers Life & Annuity and Citigroup’s international insurance businesses strengthened its position in individual life insurance and international markets. In 2010, MetLife acquired American Life Insurance Company from AIG. It subsequently sold MetLife Bank and its mortgage-servicing business, decisions that reduced exposure to banking and mortgage activities. MetLife was designated a systemically important financial institution in the United States during the post-financial-crisis regulatory period and challenged that designation in court; the designation was ultimately rescinded. From 2016 onward, MetLife emphasized a more focused insurance and employee-benefits model. Its U.S. retail life and annuity operations were separated into Brighthouse Financial in 2017. In 2021, Farmers Group acquired MetLife’s U.S. Auto & Home business. The continuing company remains a global provider of insurance, retirement, and workplace-benefit products, with operations spanning the United States and multiple international regions.
- 2021
Auto and home business sold
[4]Farmers Group acquired MetLife’s U.S. Auto & Home operation.
- 2017
Brighthouse Financial separation
[6]MetLife’s U.S. retail life and annuity business launched as Brighthouse Financial.
- 2011
Banking business sold
[1]MetLife sold MetLife Bank to GE Capital and exited the banking business.
- 2010
American Life Insurance Company acquired
[1]MetLife purchased AIG’s American Life Insurance Company for approximately $15.5 billion.
- 2005
Travelers Life & Annuity acquired
[1]The acquisition expanded MetLife’s life-insurance, annuity, and international operations.
- 2000
Demutualization and IPO
[1]MetLife converted to a public company and completed its initial public offering.
- 1981
Pan Am Building acquired
[1]MetLife acquired and renamed the prominent office tower at 200 Park Avenue in Manhattan.
- 1915
Mutualization completed
[1]Metropolitan Life converted into a mutual insurer operated for the benefit of policyholders.
- 1909
Becomes leading U.S. life insurer
[1]MetLife became the largest U.S. life insurer by insurance in force.
- 1879
Industrial insurance model introduced
[1]MetLife adopted a small-policy, frequent-premium model aimed at working-class households.
Products and positioning
A financially strong, globally diversified insurer focused on long-term protection, workplace benefits, retirement planning, and institutional risk management.
Insurance
Life insurance
MetLife’s life-insurance portfolio has included term life, whole life, universal life, and final-expense products. Depending on the market and subsidiary, these products are distributed directly, through agents, or through employer and institutional relationships. They are designed to provide death-benefit protection, income replacement, estate or family liquidity, and other long-term financial protection.
Retirement and savings
Annuities
MetLife provides annuity and retirement-income solutions through institutional and other channels. Annuities may be used to accumulate assets, transfer longevity risk, or create a stream of retirement income. The U.S. retail annuity business formerly associated with MetLife was separated into Brighthouse Financial in 2017.
Group insurance
Employee benefits
Employee-benefit offerings serve employers and their workforces through group life, dental, vision, disability, accident, and related protection programs. MetLife’s workplace model combines insurance coverage with enrollment, administration, claims, and financial-wellness support for corporate and institutional customers.
Retirement services
Retirement solutions
MetLife supports employers and individuals with retirement-oriented savings, income, and benefit arrangements. Its retirement activities have included pension-risk transfer and institutional products as well as workplace savings-related services, subject to the structure of the relevant market and subsidiary.
Property and casualty insurance
MetLife Auto & Home
MetLife’s U.S. retail property-and-casualty business offered automobile and homeowners insurance. Farmers Group acquired the operation in 2021, so it is no longer a continuing MetLife product line in the same ownership structure.
Controversies
Marketing campaigns
- 1950Peanuts partnership and advertising
United States · International
MetLife used characters from Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts in long-running advertising and sponsorship activity, linking the brand with approachable family protection and workplace benefits.
Outcome. The characters became a highly recognizable part of MetLife’s consumer brand identity for many years.
Brand decisions
2021
Sell U.S. Auto & Home business to FarmersM&ABackground
The transaction supported MetLife’s continuing focus on insurance and employee-benefits businesses outside its U.S. retail property-and-casualty operation.
Action taken
Farmers Group acquired MetLife’s Auto & Home business.
Aftermath
The acquired operation became part of Farmers’ property-and-casualty platform.
2016
Separate U.S. retail life and annuity operationsStrategyBackground
MetLife reassessed its portfolio and sought to concentrate the continuing company on group benefits, institutional business, and international insurance.
Action taken
It announced the separation of its U.S. retail life-insurance and annuity operations into Brighthouse Financial.
Aftermath
Brighthouse Financial launched as a separate company in 2017, while MetLife retained its other major insurance platforms.
2000
Convert from mutual insurer to public companyStrategyBackground
MetLife sought a shareholder-owned structure that could support broader business expansion and capital access.
Action taken
The company demutualized and completed an initial public offering, distributing cash or shares to eligible policyholders under the conversion process.
Aftermath
MetLife became a publicly traded insurance holding company and pursued major acquisitions in subsequent years.
Initial public offering value. Approximately $6.5 billion (2000)
Recent events
Reported
MetLife and MedNet announce Gulf employee benefits partnership[7]
MetLife and MedNet announced a partnership to enhance and differentiate the employee benefits value proposition and customer experience in the Gulf. They said they would build and implement a regional end-to-end Employee Benefits Platform over the next 12 months, subject to regulatory approval.
Reported
AIST and MetLife announce a two-year partnership[8]
The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees announced a two-year partnership with MetLife, under which MetLife would become AIST's principal partner and exclusive life insurance partner.
Reported
MetLife and YuLife partner on group life cover[9]
MetLife partnered with YuLife to underwrite YuLife’s group life cover policies. MetLife will provide the underlying risk coverage and claims administration, while YuLife retains its customer relationships and proposition.
Reported
MetLife unveils financial-adviser platform and resources in Australia[10]
MetLife unveiled a suite of tools, educational resources and product offerings for financial advisers across Australia, including a digital platform for policy administration.
- Unconfirmed
Reported
Emirates NBD and MetLife enter insurance partnership[11]
Emirates NBD entered a strategic partnership with MetLife to provide insurance products and solutions to its wealth, retail, and SME customers across the UAE.
Reported
NIIT and MetLife win 15 Brandon Hall technology awards[12]
NIIT and MetLife jointly earned 15 Brandon Hall Excellence in Technology awards for the MetLife Distribution Academy Platform: 12 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze awards.
Reported
NIIT and MetLife win two Learning Technologies Awards[13]
NIIT and MetLife jointly won two 2020 Learning Technologies Awards: Gold for Best technology-based onboarding programme and Silver for Best use of blended learning - international commercial sector. The awards were announced at the online gala on November 18, 2020.
Reported
MetLife China selected for 2020 social responsibility communications award[14]
MetLife China was selected for the 2020 Jinnuo Award for an Outstanding Social Responsibility Communications Case. The source reports the selection but does not specify when the award decision was made.
Reported
MetLife China launches adviser-channel value proposition[15]
MetLife China launched the adviser-channel value proposition “From Life Planner to Life Partner,” describing it as a customer-centered redefinition of life insurance agents’ mission, role, and social value.
Sources17 sources
- 1MetLifeen.wikipedia.org
- 2MetLife corporate leadershipmetlife.com
- 3MetLife Home Loans settlement announcementjustice.gov
- 4Farmers Insurance to acquire MetLife Auto & Home businessfarmers.com
- 5Federal Reserve enforcement action concerning MetLife mortgage servicingfederalreserve.gov
- 6Brighthouse Financial separationen.wikipedia.org
- 7MetLife与MedNet宣布在海湾地区开展员工福利合作gulfnews.com
- 8AIST与MetLife宣布为期两年的合作superreview.com.au
- 9MetLife与YuLife合作提供团体寿险moneymarketing.co.uk
- 10MetLife 在澳大利亚推出财务顾问平台及资源international-adviser.com
- 11Emirates NBD与MetLife建立保险合作关系international-adviser.com
- 12NIIT与MetLife联合获得15项Brandon Hall技术奖aninews.in
- 13NIIT与MetLife获得两项Learning Technologies大奖aninews.in
- 14大都会人寿入选“金诺奖2020年度社会责任优秀传播案例”prnasia.com
- 15大都会人寿发布顾问行销渠道价值主张prnasia.com
- 16NIIT earns gold award for learning impact jointly with MetLifeaninews.in
- 17NIIT Earns Two Coveted Learning Technologies 2020 awards jointly with MetLifeequitybulls.com
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