The Prudential Insurance Company of America began in 1873 when John F. Dryden chartered the Widows and Orphans Friendly Society. Dryden, a dropout from Yale University, was impressed by the ability of the British Prudential Insurance Company to sell insurance primarily to working class citizens who ordinarily didn't buy insurance at the time.

With that in mind, Prudential expanded exponentially during the next few decades, holding over $100 million in assets by 1905 and opening its first international branch in Toronto, Canada in 1909. WWI and the flu epidemic of 1919 produced devastating losses for Prudential, with over $20 million spent on deaths related to the flu alone. However, even during those turbulent times Prudential's inherently conservative investing paid off and corporate assets spiked to over $800 million in 1922 from slightly over $250 million in 1911.

The onset of the Great Depression caused the company's growth to stagnate, but after WWII Prudential went through a massive decentralization process. The company completely restructured itself, creating eight regional offices and only retaining senior corporate officers and select personnel in the corporate office. Prudential saw results almost immediately, and by 1949 boasted an industry record breaking $589 million in group life insurance sales. This strategy was supplemented by an innovative investment practice beginning in the 1960s which helped Prudential to maintain steady profits even in the economic recession of the 1970s.

Prudential spent the 1980s diversifying its investments into areas like technology and real estate and expanding business to include Japan, Italy, Taiwan and several other international branches. During the economically booming 1990s Prudential enjoyed significant international growth and record breaking profits. In the late 90s the company restructured itself again in preparation for becoming a publicly traded company by creating a model for increasing capital through sharing stock and shedding its healthcare branch to Aetna for $1 billion. Prudential restructured itself successfully and went public in December of 2001.