Anyone who does a good job should be compensated. 2.2 Billion dollars of compensation should reflect a company that possessed enough float to cover their financial stability rating.
What a nightmare Greenberg is creating for the new senior management, board and employees of AIG with his actions while still leading the pack and after exiting, stage left. Mrs. Greenberg, would adopt me – pleaaaase!
This confirms why I now vote no on all public stock corporation proxy exec comp proposals, and also vote to withhold all director nominees. Public corps need to hear the message and reform their greedy ways!
Hank Greenberg may be pompous, arrogant, unethical and perhaps even a crimminal, but what he is not is stupid. Greenberg did not transfer all this stock to his wife because ‘Mother’s Day’ is coming up.
Pleading the 5th and transferring huge amount of stock worth billions when your under investigation by regulators and Eliot Spitzer is not what one does when one is totally innocent.
Perhaps the lesson in all this is that Wall Street, the media and a lot of other people ought to be much more careful before they call someone an ‘icon’. Hank Greenberg may be filthy rich but we know now he ain’t no ‘icon’.
He had a long and profitable ride at AIG. As a man known to be a nice dresser, I hope he likes stripes.
For one man to have 64 million shares of stock, which I’m sure most were in the form of options and bonuses is insane. I’m sure that his friends on the board were very generious.
I would not want to be a board member, especially if he cooked the books, and who knows for how long.
For all you out there yelling and screaming about his “outrageous” stock option compensation…do you not realize that it was Greenberg who brought this company from an insurance shack in Shanghai to the powerhouse it is today?
Whatever you think about the man, do you not think he deserves a piece of the pie for this effort? He’s been there for 39 years!!! Who knows how much the stock has split in that time. Who knows how long he’s been getting stock options for?
It’s not as big of an outrage as you all make it to be.
I am amazed that you think it is okay for someone to do something illegal just because he built up the Company. What a sad world and sad Industry we have become.
I don’t think anyone condones the illegal behavior, should it be proven. I do believe that if someone builds a company like Hank Greenberg did, he deserves a share of the success. Remember that he took over AIG and built it into a powerhouse in the industry. That was done through good business and he deserves to be compensated.
I am sure that is why he decided to transfer the stock to his wife, because he did nothing wrong. I’m also sure that is why he refused to answer any questions, because he did nothing wrong. I again say we have become a Country and Industry built on greed. One person does not build a Company by himself. It takes hard work from other people whom will probably lose their jobs in all this mess. Great man Hank is!!
You read too much into his actions. The guy really loves his wife, so he gave her a gift. I wish my wife would accept money on birthdays and Mother’s Day; it sure would save me a lot of time from having to shop!
Any man that takes a shack of a company from small humble beginnings to [probably] the largest in the world deserves the credit. Of course he didn’t underwrite all the policies, settle all the claims, set all the rates, etc. etc., but it was his (somewhat ruthless) control of the company that caused its success.
I’m not endorsing his methods, nor his actions, but one thing I am saying–AIG owes 99% of its success due to Hank’s strategies, contacts (his China connections are so renown (sp?) he was asked to help the CIA) and his ideas.
For that he deserves a piece of the pie.
You and I don’t know how long he’s been getting that piece, and how many times the stock split over that time. It is very conceivable for his shares to amass to the levels that they are at now.
Crooked is as crooked does. I may not be a smart man or have all the facts but a 99% attribution to anyone’s actions is rediculas. Has Hank always been a good man who just went bad recently? Has he always been a bad man who just got caught recently? My guess is that Hank like all of us has been who he is for some time. Being the beneficiary of great wealth does not damn him. The creation of great crimes does.
I find all of this talk “he built it from scratch” very amusing. It does not matter what he achieves if it is by unethical means, which is appearing to be the case as the days go by and more facts become present. Worldcom became such a huge player in the telecommunications industry…should your logic apply that the outcome justifies the means? For shame…
The top echelon of business in the US has been without scrutiny for too long. Just because they help create great wealth does not mean they are entitled to the larger shares of the pie. Salary is not enough? If “Hank” did all this above board, he would not require the service of an attorney nor take the 5th, nor should he have to transfer his shares to his wife. I don’t have to be a financial analyst to understand his actions. Something is rotten in Denmark.
There is no single person who is worth $2.2 Billion. The entire board of directors is at fault here. They voted on his compensation packages. Executive compensation is WAY out of control. Clearly, they are not even balanced and smart enough to manage their own greed.
Not condoning illegal activity, but even I understand that the stock he owns now was most likely not worth $2.2 billion when he was given it. Relate this to McDonalds, which turned 50 years old today. If you had $2,500 of their stock when it went public in the 70’s, it would be worth $2.5 million today.
1. We don’t know how much of the 2.2 he earned as part of compensation, and how much he purchased.
2. We don’t know either over how long a period of time he’s been amassing his shares.
3. Nor do we know of how many stock splits he has gone through (may well be zero)
Let’s pretend he didn’t get a single share as compensation, I would wager a guess his overall chunk of AIG would still be substantial.
Regardless of how he built AIG, ethically, or unethically, who are we to judge how many shares he has when none of us knows for a second whether he purchased them or earned them.
Nothing new, folks. This is the Boesky-ization& Milken-ization of the insurance Business. Too many insurers are nothing more than a self-agrandizing vehicle for corporate raiders. I don’t care if you are Buffett, it’s all about the float. the bigger the pool of cash the better to leverage your competition.
Who’s next? Look no further than Primerica/A.L. Williams/Travelers/Shearson Lehman/Smith Barney/Aetna P&C/Soloman/Citicorp/Citigroup.
It all begins at Wharton/Kellogg/Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Stanford/etc. Just don’t get too greedy or you’ll have a Spitzer to contend with.
Am I stupid, or do you not understand sarcasm?
To the rest of you, you are all assuming he made this transfer to avoid some future legal action. Our Gov’t has made enough law changes and look back provisions to nullify these types of behavior. For all you know his accountant or estate planner had him transfer this stock.
And, we do not know how long he has held the stock or what value it had when he got it.
I am having trouble understanding why an “intelligent” person like you feels the need to continue dispensing sarcasm. Is it that you are very insecure with yourself? Could that be because of the size of your genitalia? I wonder…
Why don’t you look further down to what I first responded to big “M”… The simple fact that a moron like J. Greeneberg writes “…You read too much into his actions. The guy really loves his wife, so he gave her a gift. I wish my wife would accept money on birthdays and Mother’s Day; it sure would save me a lot of time from having to shop!…” makes me sick that I wasted my time reading his POS response in the first place. People like that should be castrated. It was as stupid as you, so take that piece of intelligent material and shove it up your a$$ “M”!!
Why are you two picking on Shame? He is only voicing his opinion, are your lives really that pathetic that you have nothing better to do than gang on up on him because he had the nerve to voice an opposing position??
I feel very sorry for both of you and will pray for your souls. My god id a forgiving god I pray that he will find it in his heart to forgive you both for your cruel treatment of this person.
Are you freakin’ kidding me? Maurice “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg forks out 41.4 million shares?!”?!
Last time I gave my wife a gift it was a rock my kids painted..AND WE WERE HAPPY!!!
41.4 MILLION SHARES to a woman whose role in the boardroom up to this point has been to look really close for the secrataries *** prints on the executive table whenever she “Stopped by the office for lunch”
This man either got caught in some Michael Jackson sleepover gone mad scenario and his wife just named her price, or he knows that no one is touching AIG stock and in about two Enrons from now he, sorry, THEY will sell everything off and still make another billion before they move off the coast of some third world country and have statues of themselves erected in some village filled with poverty stricken familes that live to serve them.
Greenberg,M, anyone that can type knows sarcasm, some of us just simply choose not to hide behind it.
“Some people call me Maurice..Cause I speak of the profitability of trust.”
2.2 Billion.
The GDP of Belize is only 983 Million.
Anyone who does a good job should be compensated. 2.2 Billion dollars of compensation should reflect a company that possessed enough float to cover their financial stability rating.
2.2 Billion!!! Has this country gone mad?!?
What a nightmare Greenberg is creating for the new senior management, board and employees of AIG with his actions while still leading the pack and after exiting, stage left. Mrs. Greenberg, would adopt me – pleaaaase!
Ummm, how old is Mrs. Greenberg?
I did read it right? That was a “B”, not an “M”?
This confirms why I now vote no on all public stock corporation proxy exec comp proposals, and also vote to withhold all director nominees. Public corps need to hear the message and reform their greedy ways!
Hank Greenberg may be pompous, arrogant, unethical and perhaps even a crimminal, but what he is not is stupid. Greenberg did not transfer all this stock to his wife because ‘Mother’s Day’ is coming up.
Pleading the 5th and transferring huge amount of stock worth billions when your under investigation by regulators and Eliot Spitzer is not what one does when one is totally innocent.
Perhaps the lesson in all this is that Wall Street, the media and a lot of other people ought to be much more careful before they call someone an ‘icon’. Hank Greenberg may be filthy rich but we know now he ain’t no ‘icon’.
He had a long and profitable ride at AIG. As a man known to be a nice dresser, I hope he likes stripes.
For one man to have 64 million shares of stock, which I’m sure most were in the form of options and bonuses is insane. I’m sure that his friends on the board were very generious.
I would not want to be a board member, especially if he cooked the books, and who knows for how long.
For all you out there yelling and screaming about his “outrageous” stock option compensation…do you not realize that it was Greenberg who brought this company from an insurance shack in Shanghai to the powerhouse it is today?
Whatever you think about the man, do you not think he deserves a piece of the pie for this effort? He’s been there for 39 years!!! Who knows how much the stock has split in that time. Who knows how long he’s been getting stock options for?
It’s not as big of an outrage as you all make it to be.
I am amazed that you think it is okay for someone to do something illegal just because he built up the Company. What a sad world and sad Industry we have become.
I don’t think anyone condones the illegal behavior, should it be proven. I do believe that if someone builds a company like Hank Greenberg did, he deserves a share of the success. Remember that he took over AIG and built it into a powerhouse in the industry. That was done through good business and he deserves to be compensated.
I’m not condoning anyone’s actions. I am simply saying that Greenberg’s ownership of stock is not that far fetched.
I am sure that is why he decided to transfer the stock to his wife, because he did nothing wrong. I’m also sure that is why he refused to answer any questions, because he did nothing wrong. I again say we have become a Country and Industry built on greed. One person does not build a Company by himself. It takes hard work from other people whom will probably lose their jobs in all this mess. Great man Hank is!!
You read too much into his actions. The guy really loves his wife, so he gave her a gift. I wish my wife would accept money on birthdays and Mother’s Day; it sure would save me a lot of time from having to shop!
That is a very good joke and I sure hope you meant it that way!
Any man that takes a shack of a company from small humble beginnings to [probably] the largest in the world deserves the credit. Of course he didn’t underwrite all the policies, settle all the claims, set all the rates, etc. etc., but it was his (somewhat ruthless) control of the company that caused its success.
I’m not endorsing his methods, nor his actions, but one thing I am saying–AIG owes 99% of its success due to Hank’s strategies, contacts (his China connections are so renown (sp?) he was asked to help the CIA) and his ideas.
For that he deserves a piece of the pie.
You and I don’t know how long he’s been getting that piece, and how many times the stock split over that time. It is very conceivable for his shares to amass to the levels that they are at now.
>I’m not endorsing his methods, nor his >actions, but one thing I am saying–AIG >owes 99% of its success due to Hank’s >strategies.
Maybe so, but there will be a lot of old Reinsurers – world wide – dancing around the guillotine:)
Crooked is as crooked does. I may not be a smart man or have all the facts but a 99% attribution to anyone’s actions is rediculas. Has Hank always been a good man who just went bad recently? Has he always been a bad man who just got caught recently? My guess is that Hank like all of us has been who he is for some time. Being the beneficiary of great wealth does not damn him. The creation of great crimes does.
I find all of this talk “he built it from scratch” very amusing. It does not matter what he achieves if it is by unethical means, which is appearing to be the case as the days go by and more facts become present. Worldcom became such a huge player in the telecommunications industry…should your logic apply that the outcome justifies the means? For shame…
The top echelon of business in the US has been without scrutiny for too long. Just because they help create great wealth does not mean they are entitled to the larger shares of the pie. Salary is not enough? If “Hank” did all this above board, he would not require the service of an attorney nor take the 5th, nor should he have to transfer his shares to his wife. I don’t have to be a financial analyst to understand his actions. Something is rotten in Denmark.
There is no single person who is worth $2.2 Billion. The entire board of directors is at fault here. They voted on his compensation packages. Executive compensation is WAY out of control. Clearly, they are not even balanced and smart enough to manage their own greed.
Not condoning illegal activity, but even I understand that the stock he owns now was most likely not worth $2.2 billion when he was given it. Relate this to McDonalds, which turned 50 years old today. If you had $2,500 of their stock when it went public in the 70’s, it would be worth $2.5 million today.
1. We don’t know how much of the 2.2 he earned as part of compensation, and how much he purchased.
2. We don’t know either over how long a period of time he’s been amassing his shares.
3. Nor do we know of how many stock splits he has gone through (may well be zero)
Let’s pretend he didn’t get a single share as compensation, I would wager a guess his overall chunk of AIG would still be substantial.
Regardless of how he built AIG, ethically, or unethically, who are we to judge how many shares he has when none of us knows for a second whether he purchased them or earned them.
Greed built AIG and greed will bring it down.
Shame on you J Greeneberg, you are a very stupid man.
Nothing new, folks. This is the Boesky-ization& Milken-ization of the insurance Business. Too many insurers are nothing more than a self-agrandizing vehicle for corporate raiders. I don’t care if you are Buffett, it’s all about the float. the bigger the pool of cash the better to leverage your competition.
Who’s next? Look no further than Primerica/A.L. Williams/Travelers/Shearson Lehman/Smith Barney/Aetna P&C/Soloman/Citicorp/Citigroup.
It all begins at Wharton/Kellogg/Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Stanford/etc. Just don’t get too greedy or you’ll have a Spitzer to contend with.
Am I stupid, or do you not understand sarcasm?
To the rest of you, you are all assuming he made this transfer to avoid some future legal action. Our Gov’t has made enough law changes and look back provisions to nullify these types of behavior. For all you know his accountant or estate planner had him transfer this stock.
And, we do not know how long he has held the stock or what value it had when he got it.
I still think you are a very stupid man…
WOW. This guy sounds like a natural for a position in the bush administration.
Now I won’t be able to sleep at night knowing that a genius like you thinks I am stupid.
I am having trouble understanding why an “intelligent” person like you feels the need to continue dispensing sarcasm. Is it that you are very insecure with yourself? Could that be because of the size of your genitalia? I wonder…
Shame, you haven’t posted anything intelligent or constructive yet. How old are you?
M, you summed it up good.
Shame is a boob. Some boobs are good, some aren’t.
What is Hank’s address? How can I reach him. I’m afraid something bad is going to happen to his wife and I want to be there for him!
Why don’t you look further down to what I first responded to big “M”… The simple fact that a moron like J. Greeneberg writes “…You read too much into his actions. The guy really loves his wife, so he gave her a gift. I wish my wife would accept money on birthdays and Mother’s Day; it sure would save me a lot of time from having to shop!…” makes me sick that I wasted my time reading his POS response in the first place. People like that should be castrated. It was as stupid as you, so take that piece of intelligent material and shove it up your a$$ “M”!!
Well you proved me wrong…….that was sarcasm, I know you have trouble picking up on it
Why are you two picking on Shame? He is only voicing his opinion, are your lives really that pathetic that you have nothing better to do than gang on up on him because he had the nerve to voice an opposing position??
I feel very sorry for both of you and will pray for your souls. My god id a forgiving god I pray that he will find it in his heart to forgive you both for your cruel treatment of this person.
We all knew about this 20 years ago.
Warren: Now it’s the time to show your solidarity and friendship.
Are you freakin’ kidding me? Maurice “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg forks out 41.4 million shares?!”?!
Last time I gave my wife a gift it was a rock my kids painted..AND WE WERE HAPPY!!!
41.4 MILLION SHARES to a woman whose role in the boardroom up to this point has been to look really close for the secrataries *** prints on the executive table whenever she “Stopped by the office for lunch”
This man either got caught in some Michael Jackson sleepover gone mad scenario and his wife just named her price, or he knows that no one is touching AIG stock and in about two Enrons from now he, sorry, THEY will sell everything off and still make another billion before they move off the coast of some third world country and have statues of themselves erected in some village filled with poverty stricken familes that live to serve them.
Greenberg,M, anyone that can type knows sarcasm, some of us just simply choose not to hide behind it.
“Some people call me Maurice..Cause I speak of the profitability of trust.”
I am Your Conscience….WAKE UP!!!!!!
All I can say is that is frickin’ hilarious!!!!!