The board of directors of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company unanimously adopted the Plan of Reorganization on August 31, 1999. Under the terms of the Plan of Reorganization, effective February 1, 2000, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company converted from a mutual life insurance company to a stock life insurance company and became a wholly owned subsidiary of John Hancock Financial Services, Inc., which is a holding company. In connection with the reorganization, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company changed its name to John Hancock Life Insurance Company.
(1) Net of related amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs and amounts credited to participating pension contractholders of $6.0 million, $85.8 million, and $120.3 million for the years ended 2000, 1999, and 1998, respectively.
Consolidated income before income taxes, minority interest and cumulative effect of accounting change of $259.9 million for the year ended December 31, 1999 decreased by $357.4 million, or 57.9%, as compared to consolidated income before income taxes, minority interest and cumulative effect of accounting change of $617.3 million for the year ended December 31, 1998. The decrease was primarily attributable to decreases in income before income taxes and cumulative effect of accounting change of $204.9 million in the Guaranteed and Structured Financial Products Segment, $191.1 million in the Corporate and Other Segment, and $45.2 million in the Asset Gathering Segment. These decreases were offset by increases of $44.3 million in the Protection Segment and $39.5 million in the Investment Management Segment. The decrease in the Guaranteed and Structured Financial Products Segment was primarily due to recognizing a $345.5 million pre-tax charge for compensation of group participating contractholders for assets transferred in conjunction with the formation of the corporate account. The decrease in the Corporate and Other Segment was primarily due to a $208.6 million pre-tax charge for our exposure to losses under our Workers' Compensation reinsurance programs, including Unicover Managers, Inc., that was associated with the group business we sold in 1997 partially offset by lower pre-tax charges in connection with the class action settlement of $140.2 million in 1999 compared to $230.8 million in 1998. The decrease in the Asset Gathering Segment was primarily due to lower investment advisory fees earned from our mutual fund operations. The increase in the Protection Segment was primarily due to higher realized investment gains on real estate, higher fee income on variable life insurance products, and favorable claims experience on long-term care insurance products. The increase in the Investment Management Segment was due primarily to higher investment advisory fees resulting from growth in assets under management and higher realized investment gains on sales of mortgage loans.
Universal life and investment-type product charges were $703.3 million for 1999, an increase of $106.3 million, or 17.8%, from $597.0 million in 1998. These product charges consist primarily of cost of insurance fees on our variable life insurance and universal life insurance products and mortality and expense fees on our variable annuity products. The increase was primarily due to higher cost of insurance fees resulting from growth in the average amount of variable life insurance in force and higher average variable annuity separate account liabilities. Investment-type product charges in the Guaranteed and Structured Financial Products Segment also increased as a result of higher sales of single premium annuity contracts and separate account GICs.
Other operating costs and expenses were $1,384.4 million for 1999, an increase of $26.6 million, or 2.0%, from $1,357.8 million for 1998. The increase was primarily due to $26.3 million in restructuring charges during 1999 and increased interest and related expenses of $9.0 million in the Investment Management Segment primarily resulting from the formation of a collateralized bond obligation during the second quarter of 1998. These increases were partially offset by a $20.9 million decrease in interest expense on prior year taxes.
The excess of cost over the fair value of the net assets of businesses acquired was $228.6 million and $155.3 million at December 31, 2000 and 1999, respectively. Goodwill is amortized on systematic basis over periods not exceeding 40 years, which correspond with the benefits estimated to be derived from the acquisitions. Accumulated amortization was $63.6 million and $43.3 million at December 31, 2000 and 1999, respectively. Amortization expense included in other operating costs and expenses was $20.3 million, $9.7 million, and $9.1 million in 2000, 1999 and 1998, respectively. The Company reevaluates the recoverability of recorded goodwill based on the undiscounted cash flows of the related business whenever significant events or changes indicate an impairment may exist. If the undiscounted cash flows do not support the amount recorded, an impairment is recognized by a charge to current operations to reduce the carrying value of the goodwill based on the expected discounted cash flows of the related business. The following table shows the amount of goodwill amortization for each applicable segment: