Power Corporation

Power Corporation of Canada, Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	: POW
Industry	Conglomerate
Founded	1925; 92 years ago (1925)
Founder	Arthur J. Nesbitt Peter Thompson
Headquarters	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Key people	Paul Desmarais Paul Desmarais, Jr. André Desmarais
Products	Financial services, insurance, media and energy
Revenue	C$38.26 billion (2015)
Net income	C$1.786 billion (2015)
AUM	C$785 billion (2015)
Total assets	C$422.85 billion (2015)
Number of employees	26,500 employees and 14,400 financial advisors (2015)
Website	PowerCorporation.com

Power Corporation of Canada is a diversified international management and Canadian holding company. Through its subsidiary, Power Financial Corporation, it has interests in companies in the financial services sector in Canada, the United States and Europe. Through its subsidiary, Square Victoria Communications Group, it holds interest in companies from the communications and media sector. Power Corporation also holds and actively manages a portfolio of investments in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company has $785B in assets under management and $1.4 trillion in assets under administration.

Power Corporation of Canada was formed in 1925 by Arthur J. Nesbitt and his partner Peter A. T. Thompson. Nesbitt served as the company's first president. Power Corporation was created as a holding company to manage their substantial investments in public utility companies involved in the electrical power industry in Quebec's Eastern Townships plus in the other Canadian Provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick and British Columbia. In the latter part of the 1930s, the company acquired a controlling interest in Bathurst Pulp and Paper Company Ltd. and in 1938, Canadian Oil Companies Ltd., selling the latter to Shell Oil Company in 1962.

In 1952, Arthur J. Nesbitt was succeeded as president by his son Arthur Deane Nesbitt (1910–1978). The family sold most their interest in Power Corporation to the Paul Desmarais group in 1968 and by 1970 no longer had any involvement. At that time, Paul Desmarais had already started implementing an investment philosophy which continues today: responsible management, prudent approach to risk, long-term value creation, etc.

1984 saw the creation of a diversified management and holding company, Power Financial Corporation. Global expansion for the group began in the 1970s in Europe and followed in the 1990s in Asia. The group's involvement in the finance sector continued in 2000 with the acquisition of Canada Life, Mackenzie Financial and Putnam Investments.