Marsh job cuts: the insurance broker lifts its Thrive savings goal to $600 million from automation, after $310 million of mostly severance costs

Marsh has raised its target for savings from automation and restructuring to $600 million a year, after $310 million in program costs so far, mostly severance, its quarterly filing shows. In the 10-Q for the quarter to 30 September 2026, filed after third-quarter results on 15 October, the company formerly known as Marsh McLennan said it increased the expected annualized savings from its three-year Thrive program from $400 million to about $600 million, and the cost estimate from $500 million to about $750 million, covering "severance, technology and outside services". It says the program "will generate savings from process and automation efficiencies and optimization of our global operating model". Alongside Thrive it set up Business Client Services to centralize investment in "operational excellence, data, artificial intelligence and other analytics". Of the $310 million spent through September, the filing says the costs were "primarily severance". Marsh, which has more than 95,000 colleagues, does not say how many jobs Thrive removes or that AI is doing the work of people who left, so this does not enter our AI layoffs tracker. It shows one of the world's largest insurance brokers paying mainly for job cuts while counting on automation for the savings.