LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Cigna has called off a massive merger with Louisville-based Humana, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The two large health insurance companies couldn't come to an agreement on price and other financial terms, according to the report.
The companies were in talks of possibly merging before the end of the year. The WSJ reported Cigna would have been acquiring Humana in a cash-and-stock transaction with a "large stock component."
However, according to the WSJ report, shareholders "reacted coolly" with Cigna stock dropping nearly 10% since the news surfaced. The WSJ reported that people had questions about Cigna using its stock as currency, in addition to other matters.
Cigna is now planning an additional $10 billion of stock buybacks, bringing its total planned repurchases to $11.3 billion, according to the WSJ report.
WHAS11 has not been able to independently verify the report.
Humana and Cigna explored a merger in 2015 until Humana struck a deal with Aetna instead, which was then blocked by a judge for violating anti-trust laws.
"We want to make sure that Humana knows that we want to do whatever we can as a city to insure we continue to grow their presence in Louisville," Mayor Craig Greenberg told WHAS11 on Thursday.
Humana has 12,360 employees in Louisville, according to the Greater Louisville Metro Chamber of Commerce. It is the fifth-largest employer in the city. The company generated about $93 billion last year and Cigna generated about $181 billion. Humana is the second-largest Medicare insurer behind UnitedHealth.
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