MetLife is the short name for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The firm was founded on March 24, 1868.

The company, which was a mutual organisation, went public in 2000.

MetLife is the largest life insurer in the US, with more than $2 trillion of life insurance in force.

MetLife serves 88 of the largest Fortune 100 companies. It has a market in more than 12 countries.

The company reported first quarter 2008 net income of $615 million, or $0.84 per diluted common share, compared with $983 million, or $1.28 per diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2007.

Operating earnings for the first quarter of 2008 were $1,111 million, or $1.52 per diluted common share, compared with $1,082 million, or $1.41 per diluted common share, for the prior period.

Image: C Robert Henrikson (right), president and CEO of MetLife Inc, hands to Harry Johnson Sr, president and CEO of the Washington, DC Martin Luther King Jr National memorial Project Foundation, a large novelty check during a press conference on February 29, 2008 in Washington, DC.