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The story
Origins and predecessor firms
WTW’s roots trace to nineteenth- and twentieth-century insurance broking and actuarial consultancies that later combined to form Willis Group and Towers Watson.
Willis Group
Henry Willis began broking at Lloyd’s in the 1840s and founded Henry Willis & Co. The firm merged with Faber Brothers in 1898 to form Willis, Faber & Co., and with Dumas & Wylie in 1928 to form Willis, Faber & Dumas. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1976. In 1990 Willis entered the U.S. retail market through a merger with Corroon & Black to create Willis Corroon. It was taken private by KKR in 1998, adopted the Willis Group name, and relisted on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001 under the ticker WSH. Willis expanded in North America by acquiring Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs in 2008, increased its longtime stake to acquire French broker Gras Savoye in 2015, and agreed that year to purchase an 85% stake in London broker Miller. Willis launched the Willis Research Network in 2006 to link academia and industry on natural-hazard and risk science.
Watson Wyatt Worldwide
R. Watson & Sons was founded in the United Kingdom in 1878. The Wyatt Company was founded in the United States in the 1940s. The firms merged in 1995 under the Watson Wyatt name, the U.S. business listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2000, and the UK and U.S. businesses formally merged in 2005 as Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
Towers Perrin and Towers Watson
Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby (TPF&C) was established in 1934. It acquired actuarial firm Tillinghast, Nelson & Warren in 1986 and shortened its name to Towers Perrin in 1987. Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt completed a merger of equals on 4 January 2010 to form Towers Watson, led by John Haley, before the 2016 merger with Willis Group created WTW.
Formation of Willis Towers Watson (2016)
Shareholders approved the merger of Willis Group and Towers Watson in December 2015. The combined company began operating as Willis Towers Watson in early January 2016, with shares trading on Nasdaq under the ticker WLTW.
Proposed acquisition by Aon
On 9 March 2020 Aon announced an all-stock deal to acquire Willis Towers Watson valued at about US$30 billion. The combined group would have been the world’s largest insurance broker by revenue. The parties targeted completion in 2021 subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.
Competition authorities conducted in-depth reviews. The European Commission opened a Phase II investigation in December 2020 and on 9 July 2021 approved the transaction subject to structural remedies that included the divestment of substantial Willis Towers Watson reinsurance and commercial risk broking activities to an approved purchaser. The Commission said the commitments preserved competition for large commercial clients and for reinsurance broking in the EEA. Outside Europe, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission set out preliminary concerns in February 2021 relating to reinsurance broking and broking for large commercial clients in Australia.
In the United States the Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust complaint on 16 June 2021 to block the merger. The complaint alleged that the deal would substantially lessen competition in five markets covering large-client broking, reinsurance broking, health benefits broking for large customers, private multicarrier retiree exchanges and pension administration services for large customers.
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On 26 July 2021 Aon and Willis Towers Watson terminated their business combination agreement, citing the uncertainty created by the DOJ litigation. Under the termination agreement Aon paid a US$1 billion fee to Willis Towers Watson. In the months that followed, Willis Towers Watson completed the sale of its treaty reinsurance brokerage operations to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., which had been the intended purchaser under the European remedy package.
Rebranding since 2020
In November 2020 WTW acquired Acclimatise, a UK-based climate consultancy, and in November 2021 it agreed to acquire Israeli broker Leaderim as part of a broader build-out of specialty and regional broking networks. WTW completed the sale of its treaty reinsurance operations to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. on 1 December 2021 for an initial US$3.25 billion with a potential earn-out.
The company rebranded commercially as WTW in January 2022 and changed its Nasdaq ticker to WTW. In March 2022 it withdrew from Russia, transferring ownership of its Russian businesses to local management. In July 2022 WTW acquired Butterwire, a climate risk analytics firm, to support its advisory and software offerings. In October 2024 WTW announced an agreement to sell its direct-to-consumer unit TRANZACT, completion of which was announced on 2 January 2025.
In December 2025, it was announced WTW had reached an agreement to acquire NatWest Group's 85% stake in the UK-based workplace savings and pensions fintech, Cushon. The acquisition will be subject to regulatory approval.
In January 2026, it was announced that WTW had acquired Invoice Cover, a Québec-based specialist in trade credit insurance, with the business integrated into its Willis broking division. The acquisition, which was completed in December 2025, was intended to strengthen Willis’ presence in the Canadian trade credit market.
In January 2026, WTW acquired the American company Newfront in a $1.3 billion deal. The acquisition allowed WTW to expand its reach in the U.S. middle-market and add scale in sectors such as technology, fintech, and life sciences.
From Wikipedia’s article on Willis Towers Watson, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8