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AIG ex-boss takes a hit of £3.3 billion
18.09.08
Former American International Group chief Hank Greenberg lost $6 billion (£3.32 billion) this week on his stake in the insurer.
That holding is now worth just $622.9 million but his losses could have been even worse if he had not diversified last year by selling $3.4 billion in AIG stock.
Greenberg built up AIG over 40 years, and controls 11% of its shares through two investment firms and personal holdings. By the time the US government stepped in to rescue the insurer, the stock had lost almost 70% of its value in less than a week.
Greenberg, now 83, had to retire in March 2005 amid probes into the company's accounting and sales practices. He still faces charges in an action initiated by then-New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer.
He had begged management to let him help with saving the company, and said he was “bewildered” when his offer was refused.
Greenberg said yesterday in a letter to chief executive Robert Willumstad that AIG managers had “presided over the virtual destruction of shareholder value built up over 35 years”.
