Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. is a mutually owned insurance company based in Springfield, Mass., providing life insurance, annuities, disability income insurance, long-term care insurance, retirement-planning products, income-management and other products and services.

MassMutual controls money-management firms OppenheimerFunds Inc., Babson Capital Management LLC and Baring Asset Management Ltd. OppenheimerFunds suffered a rare black mark in 2008 when is flagship junk-bond mutual fund, Oppenheimer Champion Income, experienced a 82% drop when a leveraged bet went awry. Its money manager TremontGroup Holdings Inc. was among the victims of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. Its clients lost $3.3 billion in the scam, more than half the assets the unit had overseen. The unit is winding down and reportedly may close by summer.