AXA vs Roche: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: AXA and Roche side by side

1. 1817AXA

   Founding of the Compagnie d'Assurances Mutuelles contre l'Incendie

   Jacques-Théodore le Carpentier and 17 other property owners in Rouen set up a mutual fire insurance company, the earliest predecessor of AXA. It stayed a Normandy mutual, later called Ancienne Mutuelle, for more than a century.

2. 1896Roche

   F. Hoffmann-La Roche Founded in Basel

   Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche founds the enterprise in Basel, Switzerland, pioneering mass-manufactured, chemically standardized prescription pharmaceuticals.

3. 1898Roche

   Commercial Breakthrough with Sirolin

   Roche launches non-prescription cough syrup Sirolin, achieving widespread international distribution and financing early clinical laboratories.

4. 1934Roche

   First Industrial Synthesis of Vitamin C

   Roche becomes the first company to mass-produce synthetic Vitamin C (Redoxon) at industrial scale, anchoring decades of high-margin global cash flow.

5. 1963Roche

   Launch of Valium (Diazepam)

   Roche introduces Valium, which becomes the world's most widely prescribed psychotropic medication and establishes global pharmaceutical leadership.

6. 1968Roche

   Establishment of Roche Diagnostics

   Roche launches its dedicated diagnostic division, laying the foundation to become the world's preeminent in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) provider.

7. 1975AXA

   Claude Bébéar becomes chief executive

   Bébéar, recruited in 1958 by André Sahut d'Izarn, took over the Anciennes Mutuelles group in 1975 after Sahut d'Izarn's death and the settlement of a strike that had paralysed the company in April 1974.

8. 1982AXA

   Takeover of the Drouot Group

   Bébéar took control of the Drouot Group, then the leading private French insurance group, and became its chairman alongside his role at Mutuelles Unies.

9. 1985AXA

   Creation of the AXA name

   The group adopted the invented name AXA, short and pronounceable in any language, and Bébéar moved from running the insurance companies to chairing the group.

10. 1986AXA

    Acquisition of the Présence Group

    AXA bought the Présence Group in April 1986, continuing the consolidation of French insurers.

11. 1988AXA

    Merger with Compagnie du Midi

    The merger with Compagnie du Midi made AXA the second-largest French insurance group behind UAP and brought Equity and Law, then the sixth-largest life insurer in the United Kingdom. Bébéar was elected Manager of the Year the same year.

12. 1991AXA

    Control of The Equitable in the United States

    After a failed attempt to buy Farmers, AXA agreed in July 1991 to demutualise and take control of The Equitable, then the fifth-largest life insurer in the United States, which also brought Alliance Capital Management.

13. 1996AXA

    Acquisition of UAP

    AXA bought UAP, a French insurer twice its size, doubling its French business and reaching critical mass in the United Kingdom, Belgium and Germany. The merger took effect in 1997.

14. 1999AXA

    Guardian Royal Exchange and Nippon Dantai

    Guardian Royal Exchange joined AXA in early 1999, adding scale in United Kingdom property, casualty and health insurance, and AXA took control of Nippon Dantai, then the thirteenth-largest life insurer in Japan.

15. 2006AXA

    Acquisition of Winterthur

    AXA agreed to buy Winterthur from Credit Suisse for ~$14.8 billion (CHF 12.3 billion), about $8.93 billion (EUR 7.9 billion) in cash, strengthening its position in Switzerland, Germany and central and eastern Europe.

16. 2008Roche

    Severin Schwan becomes CEO

    Severin Schwan became CEO of F. Hoffmann-La Roche in 2008. Led Roche for 14 years; handed over to Thomas Schinecker in March 2023 and became chairman.

17. 2009Roche

    Full Acquisition of Genentech for $46.8 Billion

    Roche completes its historic $46.8 billion buyout of American biotechnology pioneer Genentech, securing market leadership in oncology biologics.

18. 2011AXA

    Sale of AXA Canada

    AXA sold its Canadian operations to Intact Financial Corp. for ~$1.87 billion (C$2.6 billion) as part of a portfolio review.

19. 2018AXA

    Acquisition of XL Group

    AXA bought XL Group for $15.3 billion in cash, shifting the group toward commercial property and casualty lines and creating the AXA XL platform.

20. 2018Roche

    Foundation Medicine & Flatiron Health Acquisitions

    Roche acquires Foundation Medicine and Flatiron Health, integrating real-world oncology data analytics and genomic profiling into personalized healthcare.

21. 2023Roche

    Acquired Telavant

    F. Hoffmann-La Roche acquired Telavant for $7.1 billion. Roche paid $7.1 billion upfront for Telavant to gain US and Japan rights to the anti-TL1A antibody RVT-3101 (afimkibart) for inflammatory bowel disease.

22. 2024AXA

    Launch of the Unlock the Future plan

    With its 2023 results in February 2024 AXA presented a 2024 to 2026 plan targeting underlying earnings per share growth of 6% to 8% a year, an underlying return on equity of 14% to 16% and a new capital management policy.

23. 2025AXA

    Sale of AXA Investment Managers to BNP Paribas

    AXA completed the sale of AXA Investment Managers to BNP Paribas Cardif on July 1, 2025 for ~$5.76 billion (EUR 5.1 billion) in cash, a total transaction value of ~$6.1 billion (EUR 5.4 billion), and signed a long-term agreement for BNP Paribas to manage a lar…

24. 2025AXA

    Death of founder Claude Bébéar

    AXA announced on November 4, 2025 that Claude Bébéar, its founder and Honorary Chairman, had died at the age of 90. He ran the group from 1975 to 2000 and created the AXA name in 1985.

25. 2025Roche

    Group Sales Reach CHF 61.5 Billion

    Under CEO Thomas Schinecker, Roche delivers group sales of ~$73.8 billion (CHF 61.5 billion), driven by ~$57.2B (CHF 47.7B) in Pharmaceuticals and ~$16.6B (CHF 13.8B) in Diagnostics.

Acquisitions

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