（布莱恩·汤普森，来源：联合健康）1. UnitedHealth Group ranks 16th in global listed companies' market cap, with UnitedHealthcare contributing two-thirds of the revenue; 2. Brian Thompson was ambushed on his way to a hotel to attend an investor meeting, and the assailant seemed to know his itinerary in advance; 3. The New York police issued a reward notice and are still searching for the killer.
According to a report from the USA New York City Police Department on December 5, around 6:46 a.m. that day, a shooting occurred outside the Hilton Worldwide hotel in Midtown Manhattan, and a 50-year-old man was shot in the chest. Police believe this was a premeditated assassination, and they are still searching for the assailant.
Subsequently, major media outlets in the USA rushed to report that the man shot was Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a subsidiary of the publicly listed UnitedHealth Group. The police disclosed that when officers arrived at the scene, the victim had already lost consciousness and was pronounced dead after being sent to the hospital.
(Brian Thompson, source: UnitedHealth)
After the incident, the headquarters of UnitedHealthcare in Minnesota lowered the flag to half-mast.
UnitedHealth Group's latest market cap exceeds 560 billion USD, ranking 16th among global listed companies, and it is also a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The subsidiary UnitedHealthcare is also the largest private health insurance company in the USA. By the end of 2023, UnitedHealthcare provides medical coverage for over 27 million residents in the USA and also provides medical and dental benefits to 7.8 million people globally.
(Source: companiesmarketcap)
Police determine it as a premeditated assassination.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, a masked assassin waited about 10 minutes at the hotel entrance in freezing temperatures in New York, then fired multiple shots about 20 feet away from Thompson using a silenced weapon. The assassin then jumped onto a bicycle and fled.
Videos released by local media showed that the arriving officers attempted to perform CPR on Thompson.
Unitedhealth Group is scheduled to hold its annual investor meeting at the hotel at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Thompson was originally preparing to arrive early at the venue to make some preparations, but evidently the shooter was aware of this and clearly knew which entrance he would use.
The New York Police Department announced that a reward of $0.01 million will be offered for information leading to clues in the case, and the police also released photos of the suspect during the shooting and fleeing on a bicycle in the wanted poster.
After the shooting incident, the investor day activities of Unitedhealth Group continued as planned for a time, but around 9 a.m., Group CEO Andrew Witty suddenly interrupted the meeting. He told the guests: "Some of you may know that we are dealing with a very serious medical condition involving a team member. Therefore, today's event will have to end, and I believe everyone understands."
Stock prices opened high but fell.
As of the time of writing, Unitedhealth's stock price rose slightly by 1%, after opening with a gain that once exceeded 2%.
The company released its outlook for the fiscal year 2025 yesterday after trading hours, projecting revenues between $450 billion and $455 billion, with net earnings per share ranging from $28.15 to $28.65, and adjusted net income per share from $29.50 to $30. The company anticipates net earnings per share for the fiscal year 2024 to be between $15.50 and $15.75, with adjusted net income per share between $27.50 and $27.75.
Within the entire group, the insurance business led by Thompson is also a mainstay, expected to bring in $280 billion in revenue for the group this year. Thompson is a certified public accountant who worked for six and a half years at PwC after graduating from university, and then joined unitedhealth group in 2004, being promoted to CEO of unitedhealth insurance in 2021.
