The greater San Fernando Valley gained a fourth member of the Fortune 500 this year – and it was almost by happenstance. In the midst of moving from its historic headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard to Warner Center, a subsidiary of Farmers Group Inc. in Woodland Hills was recognized on this year’s Fortune 500 list for the first time. The company, Farmers Insurance Exchange, was No. 264 on the 2015 list, which was released this month and ranks companies by total revenue. The insurer joins local members Walt Disney Co., Amgen Inc. and Avery Dennison Corp. The exchange is the largest of Farmer’s three subsidiaries and brought in more than $11.3 billion in revenue last year. It employs more than 13,500 people. Chief Financial Officer Scott Lindquist said the insurer would have made the list years ago had it not been under the misguided assumption that the list was only comprised of public companies. “I happened to read a press release at a board meeting about a year ago and saw that Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. was a Fortune 500 company, and wondered ‘Why aren’t we?’” Lindquist said laughing. “We actually called Fortune last fall and sent them a bunch of information and they called us back and said ‘Great, you should be on the list.’” After explaining to Fortune in depth the company’s structure and sending over its regulatory filings, the magazine was convinced. (Farmers Group Inc., the managing company of the three exchanges, is owned by Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. in Zurich. But Zurich does not own the three exchanges, they are owned by their respective policyholders.) Fortune list editor Scott DeCarlo said in an email that the list’s criteria are fairly broad. “Included in the survey are companies that operate in the U.S. and file financial statements with a government agency. This includes private companies and cooperatives that file a 10-K, and mutual insurance companies that file with state regulators,” he wrote. Other mutual insurance companies on this year’s list include Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm Insurance Cos., which ranked No. 41, and Nationwide Mutual in Columbus, Ohio at No. 85. “Making it on the list is a great tribute. It’s an external acknowledgement that Farmers is a big deal,” Lindquist said. “Now the challenge is moving up.” Farmers is settling into its new headquarters at 6301-6303 Owensmouth Ave. after having put its Wilshire Boulevard offices up for sale after more than 70 years. The aging building needed $50 million for renovations, including a seismic retrofit. The move began two years ago and Lindquist said the majority of the company’s 1,400 corporate employees will be moved in by the beginning of next year. “We’re really quite pleased with the Woodland Hills location,” he said. – Champaign Williams
