Pacific Life recognized for raking it in

Paul Clinton

For the third year in a row, Pacific Life Corp. has made Fortune

magazine’s annual Fortune 500 list of the top revenue-generating

companies in the U.S.

The Newport Beach-based health insurer came in at No. 419, up from

its No. 439 slot on the 2002 list. The privately held company, which

pulled in $3.8 billion in revenue for the year, was the only business

in Newport-Mesa to make the list.

“It’s nice to be on the Fortune 500 list, but more important to us

is to be in the top five of total new life insurance sales,” said Bob

Haskell, the company’s senior vice president of public affairs.

Based on annualized new premiums, Pacific Life is No. 5 on that

list, according to LIMRA International, a marketing firm.

Pacific Life, founded by former California Gov. Leland Stanford in

1868 as Pacific Mutual, moved to Newport Beach in 1972. After a

number of acquisitions, the company, in 1997, changed its name to

Pacific Life.

The company, which owns a stake in Newport Beach bond house PIMCO,

provides a range of life and health insurance products, annuities,

mutual funds, group employee benefits and other financial products.

Since 1997, the company has grown from the No. 20 to the No. 15

life insurance provider in the nation. The company conducts business

with 68 of the 100 largest U.S. companies.

Wal-Mart, which generated $246.5 billion in revenue, came in at

the top of the Fortune 500 list for the second year in a row. This

year, the 500 companies’ revenue fell 26%, largely because of a

sluggish economy and string of accounting scandals.

Dave Kilby, California Chamber of Commerce vice president, said

the Fortune 500 list brings additional attention to the companies,

but doesn’t raise many eyebrows in business circles.

“I’m not surprised [that Pacific Life made the list],” Kilby said.

“It certainly puts the companies in a spotlight.”

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].