Top insurance brokers, No. 4: Willis Towers Watson
2025 brokerage revenue: $9.77B
Percent increase: 0.3%
Willis Towers Watson’s acquisition of Newfront marked a return to larger brokerage acquisitions and expanded its U.S. middle-market and technology capabilities as commercial insurance pricing softened from hard-market highs.
The $1.3 billion deal, which closed in January, is expected to add about $235 million in annualized revenue to WTW.
Newfront strengthens WTW’s West Coast presence and specialization in sectors such as life sciences and venture capital, said WTW CEO Carl Hess.
Newfront’s agentic artificial intelligence technology “makes the broker’s job far more efficient” and has helped it achieve “higher than average sales velocity,” he said.
WTW plans to leverage Newfront’s engineering team and leadership to help improve efficiency and support revenue growth, Mr. Hess said.
In April, WTW named Newfront co-founders Spike Lipkin chief AI officer and Gordon Wintrob head of AI acceleration, reporting to Mr. Hess.
The acquisition was one of the first major deals in several years for WTW and supports its goal of increasing risk and broking’s share of revenue to 50%, said C. Gregory Peters, managing director-equity research at St. Petersburg, Florida-based Raymond James & Associates.
“This was an important step change in helping them drive some additional opportunity, revenue and expansion in their North American commercial insurance brokerage business,” he said.
Risk and broking accounted for 45% of WTW’s revenue in 2025, up from 41% a year earlier, while health, wealth and career declined to 55% from 59% after its 2024 divestiture of Tranzact, its direct-to-consumer insurance distribution business.
WTW’s 2025 brokerage revenue of $9.77 billion was up 0.3% from the prior year. The company retained its position at No. 4 in Business Insurance’s ranking of the world’s largest brokers.
The brokerage reported 5% organic revenue growth last year, with 6% organic growth in risk and broking operations.
WTW’s risk and broking business had been performing near the top end of the insurance broker group in 2025 before slowing sharply in this year’s first quarter as softer property/casualty pricing, slower new business and timing issues weighed on organic growth, said Elyse Greenspan, managing director, equity research, insurance at Wells Fargo Securities in New York.
Its core retail brokerage business posted 2% organic revenue growth in the first quarter, down from 8% a year earlier.
“One quarter does not make a trend,” she said. WTW appeared to signal that “things should get better in the second quarter” if April trends continue, Ms. Greenspan said.
WTW’s slower first quarter reflected tough comparisons with 2025 and economic uncertainty stemming from tensions in the Middle East, Mr. Hess said. “Some clients postponed some decision-making, which in turn had an effect on the business for the quarter,” he said.
“We were pleased to see a resumption of growth in the second quarter,” Mr. Hess said. “Part of that is just success in the marketplace and part of that is some of that deferred decision making coming to light,” he said.
WTW continues to see strong growth in North America, and its specialization approach is “resonating in the marketplace,” giving it confidence in its mid-single-digit organic revenue growth outlook for 2026, he said.
The brokerage saw strong growth in construction and natural resources, in part because of data center construction, and is responding to demand in energy and infrastructure, Mr. Hess said.
AI is also being embedded in WTW’s products and services. In its insurance consulting and technology business, its Radar pricing platform is now “AI-augmented,” helping it do “a better job for our clients,” while supporting product pricing, Mr. Hess said.
Its reinsurance joint venture with Bain Capital is performing in line with expectations and continues to hire. “We were up and trading at 1/1, which was a great result,” he said. The unit recently recruited several executives from rival Guy Carpenter.
The brokerage industry’s “war for talent” continues, but employee attrition remains at the lower end of its target range, Mr. Hess said. “We remain a pretty sticky place for talent,” he said.
WTW continues to look for acquisition opportunities that align with its culture and specialization strategy, particularly in the U.S. brokerage market. “Even with the Newfront acquisition, we think that there’s room for us to grow both organically and inorganically in the U.S.,” Mr. Hess said.