W. R. Berkley Corporation management check
WRB · Financials · Property & Casualty Insurance · CEO William R Jr Berkley
Filings as of
6 good · 1 to watch · 0 flagged, across the seven questions below.
- Good
Have owners done well?
Beat its chosen peers$100 invested at the start of fiscal 2021 grew to $268, against $224 for the peer group the company picked itself.
- Watch
Does pay follow performance?
Pay only loosely tracked returnsOver 5 years, the CEO's pay actually paid (equity valued at the share price) had a correlation of 0.48 with shareholder return. 1 means pay moved in step; below 0, the opposite way.
- Good
What does the CEO cost owners?
0.9% of net income$16.8m of reported pay in fiscal 2025, against $1.8bn of net income.
- Good
Do they own the stock?
CEO stake ≈ 20 years of payThe CEO holds 4,654,453 shares, directly or through trusts (unvested awards not counted): about 20 years of pay. No open-market insider buying or selling in the last six months.
- Good
Are owners being diluted?
Share count shrinkingDiluted shares changed -1.2% a year over the last three fiscal years. Stock-based pay was 0.4% of revenue in the latest year.
- Good
Is leadership stable?
1 leadership filings in 3 yearsCEO in the pay table: Mr. Rob Berkley. 1 filings under 8-K item 5.02 (officers or directors leaving or joining, or new pay arrangements) in the last 3 years.
- Good
Are the books clean?
No red flags on fileNo restatements, auditor changes or late filings since 2021.
Against the S&P 500
Each check's score (0–100) and how it compares: the share of ranked S&P 500 companies it matches or beats, and the median in Financials.
| Check | Score | At or above | Sector median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner returns | 74 | 49 | |
| Pay for performance | 74 | 83 | |
| CEO cost | 52 | 67 | |
| Skin in the game | 100 | 51 | |
| Dilution | 65 | 69 | |
| Stable leadership | 100 | 80 | |
| Clean books | 100 | 100 |
Closest peers
Others in Property & Casualty Insurance, by management score. W. R. Berkley Corporation is 11th of 72 in its sector.
Pay versus performance
From the proxy statement filed April 22, 2026. "Actually paid" values stock awards at the share price, so it rises and falls with the stock.
| Fiscal year | CEO | CEO pay | Actually paid | Other executives (avg) | $100 became | Peers | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mr. Rob Berkley | $16.8m | $21.1m | $6.4m | $268 | $224 | $1.8bn |
| 2024 | — | $17.4m | $22.1m | $6.6m | $211 | $182 | $1.8bn |
| 2023 | — | $16.8m | $16.0m | $6.5m | $166 | $145 | $1.4bn |
| 2022 | — | $16.7m | $22.6m | $6.4m | $165 | $135 | $1.4bn |
| 2021 | — | $14.1m | $18.0m | $5.5m | $123 | $116 | $1.0bn |
The board says pay is tied most to ROE. Its other key measures: Growth in Book Value Per Share, as adjusted.
Insiders and the CEO's stake
William R Jr Berkley (Chairman, President and CEO) held 4,654,453 shares directly after their latest Form 4 on Aug 3, 2026, roughly $336.5m at that filing's price.
No open-market insider buying or selling in the last six months.
Leadership and governance on file
- Jun 26, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Dec 12, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Mar 4, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Nov 12, 2021Leadership change8-K 5.02
Latest shareholder vote results: Jun 5, 2026, including the say-on-pay vote.
Where the money went
Over 2021–2025: $3.7bn returned to owners in buybacks and dividends, 50% of net income, and $256.0m of pay in stock.
| Fiscal year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $9.5bn | $11.2bn | $12.1bn | $13.6bn | $14.7bn |
| Net income | $1.0bn | $1.4bn | $1.4bn | $1.8bn | $1.8bn |
| Stock-based pay | $46.7m | $49.4m | $51.0m | $54.4m | $54.5m |
| Buybacks | $122.4m | $94.1m | $537.2m | $303.7m | $270.2m |
| Dividends | $355.7m | $235.2m | $501.5m | $532.0m | $700.3m |
| Diluted shares | 0m | 0m | 410m | 403m | 400m |
Educational only, not investment advice. Figures are as filed with the SEC: pay from the proxy's pay-versus-performance table, capital allocation from 10-K XBRL data, insider trades from Form 4s over the last six months, events from the last 5 years of filings. The peer group is the one the company chose. See the method.