Geico
One Geico Plaza
Washington, D.C. 20076
www.geico.com Year founded: 1936 Industry: Financial services Revenue: $7.78 Billion Net Income/Loss: $902.54 Million Earnings per share: n/a Dividend: n/a Stockholder equity: n/a Auditor: n/a Assets: $13.69 Billion Market capitalization: n/a 52-week high: n/a 52-week low: n/a President and CEO, insurance operations: Olza M. Nicely President and CEO, capital operations: Louis A. Simpson Employees: 21000 Local employees: 1800 Description: Geico has about 5.5 million automotive policyholders and insures about 8.6 million vehicles, making it the nation's fifth-largest direct writer of private passenger automobile insurance. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The company markets its policies over the phone and through the mail rather than employing agents. Developments: Geico began as a provider of auto insurance to government employees (its name was derived from Government Employees Insurance Co.). In 1958 Geico began branching out to cover other drivers. Geico increased its preferred policyholder count, those in low-risk groups like the military and government, by more than 8 percent last year while standard policies (normal risks like most adults in the private sector) and nonstandard (higher risks like younger people) grew more than 21 percent. To handle the rapid growth, the company announced in December it would open a new customer service center in Buffalo employing about 2,500 people. In his annual report to shareholders, Buffett, a major investor in, and a director of, The Washington Post Co., said Geico took in about $7.8 billion in premium revenue and had a pretax underwriting profit of $452 million in 2003, up from $416 million in 2002. Buffett said underwriting expenses rose 23 percent, to $1.4 billion, reflecting increased advertising and increased staffing to handle new policies.
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