This follows the $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money they had received on four different occasions in light of its status as "too big to fail." Ben Bernanke said last night on 60 Minutes that nothing, nothing has pissed him off more.
Below is my post on AIG from last September in which I shared some information the CEO had shared with shareholders in the company's most recent annual report.
It still pisses me off, and read closely the item at the bottom that is labeled, of all things, "Integrity."
***
"Sincerely, Martin J. Sullivan"
In the last year AIG stock traded for as high as $70 a share. It's trading as of right now at $2.99 -- about the price for a gallon of milk.Last week the stock was trading at a low of $1.25 a share, or about the price (sale price, I should say) of a can of Progresso Rich & Hearty Chicken Pot Pie soup.
So, in advance of this collapse, what were its investors told? I pulled the below from the AIG annual report, which you can read here. We'll just let these words speak for themselves, with no further comment.
One more thing: Forbes listed Sullivan's CEO compensation at $11 million. And when he left the firm earlier this summer, he was reportedly paid out a $47 million severance package. No doubt about it: One could buy quite a lot of Progresso Rich & Hearty Chicken Pot Pie soup (and deflated AIG stock) with that sort of coin.
Heckuva job, Marty.
