U.S. insurance brokerage and risk management company Brown & Brown lost $23 mn in annual revenue after dozens of employees defected to a Howden-backed start-up, according to president and CEO J. Powell Brown.
Speaking on an analyst call on Jan. 27 to review 2025 results, Brown said roughly 275 former employees joined the new broker, taking customers representing known revenues of $23 mn.
Approximately 275 of our former teammates have joined this start-up, taking with them customers currently representing known annual revenues of $23 mn.
J. Powell Brown, president and CEO
Brown added the company already secured an injunction and plans to continue defending its position in court.
Most of the departed staff were not producers and largely worked in employee benefits, Brown said. Howden formally launched its US operation in August 2025.
Brown avoided naming Howden directly on the call, referring to it only as “the start-up.”
Brown & Brown filed suit against Howden in December, joining legal actions by other major brokers including Alliant, Aon, Marsh, and Willis Towers Watson. The cases allege coordinated poaching of staff and clients.
Brown said competition itself isn’t the issue. “That’s what makes great companies, great leaders and great individuals,” he told analysts. The concern, he said, arises when a new US broker appears to lift entire teams while also taking customer data and accounts.
He added that aggressive hiring is widespread across the US brokerage market. “The start-up firm is one of many that are aggressively looking to hire people. The question is how they’re doing it,” Brown said.
When Brown & Brown recruits from competitors, he said the firm requires new hires to comply with existing employment contracts. He suggested that approach differs from the methods used by the start-up.
Despite the revenue loss tied to staff departures, Brown said the company closed 2025 with strong financial performance. Full-year revenue rose 23%, driven by acquisitions, organic growth, and higher contingent commissions.
Margins expanded, and operating cash flow increased nearly 24%, even as catastrophe property pricing softened and economic growth normalized.
A major highlight was the acquisition of Accession Risk Management, Brown & Brown’s largest deal to date. Announced in June and completed in August, the transaction anchored a record M&A year. The company completed 43 acquisitions in 2025, adding roughly $1.8 bn in annual revenue.
For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2025, Brown & Brown reported revenue of $1.6 bn, up $423 mn, or 35.7%, from a year earlier. Organic revenue declined 2.8%.
That decline drew criticism from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, which called the drop disappointing in a market note. Brown said the comparison was skewed by flood claims processing revenue booked in the fourth quarter of the prior year, which did not repeat in 2025.
