In late 2019, Prudential Financial Inc. paid $2.3 billion for a three-year-old data-science startup that promised to modernize the age-old business of selling life insurance.
The deal for Assurance IQ has badly missed its financial targets and left Prudential facing questions from regulators.
In February, Prudential said it wrote down the investment by roughly half.
“Look, it was a peak period for these type valuations, and Prudential felt compelled to strengthen its digital capabilities,” said Andrew Kligerman, a Credit Suisse Securities analyst. “It was unfortunate timing at the very least.”
For its money, Prudential got an online insurance agency that primarily sold health and life policies, including some just big enough to pay for funerals, cremations or burials. At one…
