BBROBrown & Brown, Inc.

Brown & Brown arranges corporate insurance and grows by buying up local brokerages.

A broker takes on no risk: it finds cover for the client and earns a commission, a share of the premium. A major hurricane therefore hits the insurer while the broker even gains in such a year — rates rise and its commission with them. That makes the business steadier than any underwriter's.

The market is fragmented: thousands of family agencies serve local businesses and sooner or later look for a buyer. The company acquires dozens a year, leaving the team in place and connecting it to a shared placement system. Risks: acquisition prices when competition for them is fierce, softening insurance rates, and employment, which sets the size of benefit programmes. The dividend is small but raised annually.