Transamerica Corporation
The Transamerica Corporation is a US-based financial services and insurance companies. It originated in 1956 when the new legislation forced Bank of America to separate itself from non-lending activities. The company's headquarters are in San Francisco , and the Transamerica Pyramid office tower is one of the city's landmarks .
In 1967 the United Artists and in 1968 the airline Trans International Airlines was taken over. The previous management under Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin remained in the film company, but after there were disagreements in 1978 between the owner Transamerica Corporation on the one hand and the management staff of United Artists on the other, the latter said goodbye and founded the Orion Pictures Corporation . Under the new management it was decided to produce the Western Heaven’s Gate . Due to massive budget overruns and the low box office success, this film led to a previously unknown balance sheet loss for the United Artists. Contrary to many fears, however, the flop did not mean the bankruptcy of the film company United Artists, but caused displeasure among the owner and so in 1980 when the subsidiary was sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .
In July 1999, the company became the property of AEGON NV. The Dutch company is one of the world's largest life insurance companies.