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Loews is a holding company that owns a big insurance business, a pipeline company, and several other firms.
Loews is a holding company, meaning it is a corporate parent that owns big chunks of several other businesses rather than operating one single business itself. The biggest piece is CNA Financial, a large commercial insurance company that sells coverage to businesses — things like property, casualty, and workers' compensation insurance. That insurance operation is the engine of the whole company and generates most of its money.
The second major piece is Boardwalk Pipelines, which owns and runs natural gas pipelines. These are the long steel straws that move gas across the country. Boardwalk doesn't buy or sell the gas itself; it charges customers a fee to transport and store it, more like a toll road for gas than a trader. Loews also owns a smaller packaging company and holds a mix of other investments. Loews started way back in 1954 and for decades was run by the Tisch family, and it still bears their stamp: careful, disciplined, and patient. The company's structure is a bit odd for a public company, because much of its value is really just the value of the companies it owns, plus a pile of cash. Investors have long grumbled that the market values Loews at a discount to the sum of its parts — a classic "conglomerate discount" — and the Tisch family has at times bought back shares to shrink that gap.
Laurence Tisch talked his parents into putting up $125,000 to buy a resort hotel in Lakewood, New Jersey. His brother Robert joined soon after, and the brothers put the profits back into buying more hotels. That habit of using profits to buy more things never really left them.
The brothers bought a controlling stake in Loew's Theatres from MGM, a chain of movie theaters across the country. This was the deal that created the modern Loews Corporation, and the same year the company listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
Loews picked up the Lorillard Tobacco Company as part of a push to own many different kinds of businesses, not just theaters. The strategy worked: over about a decade, the company's revenue went from $100 million to more than $3 billion.
Next came CNA Financial, an insurance company. Insurance may sound boring, but it turned out to be the best thing Loews ever bought: CNA became its largest subsidiary and the biggest source of cash for the whole company.
Loews sold the theater business, walking away from the industry the company was built on. The investment company kept the Loews name, while the theaters kept the Loew's brand.
Loews' involvement with CBS ended when the network was sold to Westinghouse Electric for $5.4 billion. That closed a controversial chapter for Laurence Tisch, who had run CBS.
Laurence Tisch and Robert Tisch stepped down as co-CEOs as part of a handoff to the next generation. James Tisch became president and CEO.
Loews bought natural gas assets from Dominion Resources and renamed the business HighMount Exploration & Production. When shale drilling pushed natural gas prices down, the business was sold for far less than it cost: a substantial loss.
James Tisch retired as president and CEO at the end of the year, and Benjamin Tisch succeeded him. James became chairman, and both Benjamin and Alexander Tisch joined the board.
Noble Corporation completed its acquisition of Diamond Offshore, a roughly $1.6 billion cash-and-stock deal. That ended Loews' involvement in offshore drilling.
The business is steady rather than flashy. Insurance premiums bring in a river of money that gets paid out in claims and invested in bonds, while pipelines deliver predictable fees. The risks are equally ordinary: big natural disasters can produce painful insurance claims, and swings in interest rates affect the investment income that CNA relies on. Loews is more a careful steward of assets than a growth story, which is exactly what it's designed to be.
Saved answer · last researched 7 Nov 2026
One insurance unit brings in 81% of Loews' revenue
Loews looks like a grab bag of businesses, but CNA Financial, its commercial property and casualty insurer, brought in 81.2% of the group's revenue in 2025. The company owns roughly 92% of CNA, which sells insurance to businesses rather than drivers or homeowners. Everything else, from gas pipelines to hotels and plastic packaging, is the smaller remainder. Source: Origin company profile, data from 2025