In 2012, Verizon purchased a group annuity contract from Prudential to transfer $7.5 billion in pension obligations. Since then, several other major employers, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Kimberly-Clark Corp., Motorola Solutions Inc. and NCR Corp., have "de-risked" their pension plans by shifting billions of dollars in pension plan liabilities to insurers through the purchase of group annuities.