123 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago 60606: 312-701-3000
Founded: 1979
Employees: 27,000 total; 3,900 in Illinois
Year-end: Dec. 31
Foreign sales: 20 percent of $3.5 billion
Chief executive: Patrick G. Ryan, 58, since 1982
Cash compensation: $1,846,561, up 31 percent
Options granted: $773,589, down 41 percent
Options, stock appreciation rights exercised: None
Shares owned: 13,463,477 of 108.4 million
Largest shareholder: Patrick G. Ryan, 12.4 percent
Stock 365-day close
High: $56
Low: $35.625
May 1, 1996: $53.625
May 1, 1996, value of $1,000 in company stock:
Purchased May 1, 1995: $1,499.05
Purchased May 1, 1991: $2,635
In an effort to sharpen its focus in the quickly changing and highly competitive insurance industry, Aon Corp. last year sold two of its insurance subsidiaries, Union Fidelity and Life of Virginia.
This year, the company proposes to continue its strong presence and growth in select segments of the consumer insurance business.
As for the future, the company will continue to seek out growth opportunities and among its employees it will continue “to foster the entrepreneurial culture upon which our company was founded,” Ryan says.
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A guide to the Top 100 profiles
The Tribune’s business reporting staff profiles the Chicago area’s Top 100 companies, based on market capitalization as of May 1, 1996. Here’s a quick primer on the information you’ll find.
– The CEO’s cash compensation, including bonus and other compensation paid in 1995, along with the change from the prior year. The figure for the CEO’s stock holdings includes shares the CEO had the right to acquire within 60 days of the proxy statement’s issuance.
– Estimated current values of stock options granted the CEO, as reported in the proxy statement, and the change from the previous or prior year, as well as options and stock appreciation rights exercised during the year. In most cases, the current value of options granted is based on the assumption of a 5 percent annual rate of stock price growth.
– Theoretical total-return investment results for shares purchased for $1,000 a year ago and five years ago. The date on which those calculations are based is May 1. The results assume reinvestment of dividends on a quarterly basis.
The information in the profiles was obtained from the following sources:
– Company reports, including annual reports, public stock offering prospectuses and proxy statements.
– Interviews with company officials.
– Reports by securities analysts.
– News reports.
– Dow Jones News/Retrieval, an on-line service of Dow Jones & Co., New York.
– Bloomberg Business News, New York.
– TMS Stocks, a subsidiary of Tribune Media Services Inc., a unit of Tribune Co., Chicago.
– Morningstar Inc., Chicago.
– “First Chicago Guide,” published by Scholl Communications, Deerfield.
– “Hoover’s Handbook,” The Reference Press Inc., Austin, Texas.
