Report: UnitedHealth Chief Has Been Boasting of a Record Year

Earlier this month, Andrew Witty, chief executive for UnitedHealth Group, penned an op-ed in the New York Times condemning the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Now, Witty himself is in the spotlight, thanks to a new profile in the Wall Street Journal that talks about how he's steering the insurance company "through one of the worst corporate crises imaginable." A large chunk of the 60-year-old leader's task, per the Journal, is to "ease the concerns of his company's anxious 440,000 employees following Thompson's assassination, and keep its complex business humming, while also responding to a wave of outrage over health-insurance practices since the killing."

Witty sent a video to staffers on Dec. 23 in which he tried to calm employees' nerves over the shooting. "The environment we find ourselves in is a complex one, not one that was ever designed by anybody," he says in the footage. A source tells the Journal that armed guards are now stationed at the company's headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota, while another says that UnitedHealth is keeping tabs on threats posted online, as some employees have already received threatening emails. "Right now, people continue to have strong feelings inside the organization, maybe nervous, maybe anxious, maybe worried about security," Witty says in the video.

The Journal notes that the former pharma bigwig has had "decades navigating unusual crises—hacks, sprawling frauds, even an incriminating sex tape of a top lieutenant—in a storied career." A former auditor for the company who was let go in May said she'd previously "adored" Witty for his speeches on wanting to help customers. Now she's not so sure how sincere he was. "His investors, if they see a lot of mistakes, they won't trust him, and he has to make them happy," she says. The Daily Beast highlights one particularly noteworthy part of the Journal article: the fact that Witty has been "quietly" telling execs that UnitedHealth Group is set to hit financial records by year's end. More in the Journal. (More Andrew Witty stories.)