Firemans Fund Insurance has been around since 1853. Founded on the West Coast, San Francisco, it offered full lines of protection for business and individuals. When it relocated to Marin County, north of SF, it transferred most of its 7000 employees to several sites, becoming the largest employer by far. Its success attracted potential takeover offers, but never sold out. Until a large German firm came calling in the 1990's. Allianz was that company: big and looking to get bigger. It completed the takeover and before long, things changed, gradually.
Executives came and went. In house training programs were shut down. Goals were set and changed frequently: raised to lofty heights. Personnel were required to do more with less. Then the IT Dept. was relocated to Arizona. Then the parent compnay began to sell corporate components, reducing various segments of the company, all with a goal of satisfying corporate profits. By the early 2000's, the Marin County campus had been reduced by 75% and profits were nowhere to be found. Pension plans were scrapped; dubious schemes replaced them. One in particular was run by local scoundrels who eventually went to prison, but not before losing millions of future retirees pension funds.
This past week, Allianz announced that it is selling the final piece of the company, the personal insurance line for a few hundred million. Then the lights go out after 161 years of business.
The new train station installed to provide the company employees a convenient mode of transportation to work lies unused, waiting for trains that will never come.
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