A real whodunnit: Former AIG head denies he started exec bonuses

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090320/aig/

Former AIG head denies he started exec bonuses

March 20, 2009 07:27 AM EST | AP


WASHINGTON — The former head of insurance giant AIG is asserting that the company under his leadership did not have the type of executive bonus system that has come under harsh criticism across the country.

Hank Greenberg, who created the financial division of American International Group Inc. that is at the center of the company's financial woes, said "absolutely not" when asked about the so-called retention bonuses.

Greenberg, in an interview broadcast Friday on CBS's "The Early Show," said that when he was there, "nobody had a contract, including me. If you didn't do the job, you didn't deserve to be there."

The current head of AIG, Edward Liddy, charged in a congressional appearance Thursday that his predecessors were responsible for the financial problems currently at the company.

CBS said that AIG said in a statement that Greenberg was incorrect in saying he never put in a system of retention bonuses.

[soothsayer]

1. i'm sure it was the new ceo who came in. The ceo the appointed to fannie did the same thing as his

very first move.

What's so criminal about these particular retention bonuses is that there's nowhere for these idiot execs to go, so you don't need to pay them to stay. Also, they're the turds who ran the companies into the ground, so why should you even try to keep them? yeesh

[babylonsister]

2. The point is, what ceo doesn't think about executive bonuses,

especially in this industry? This guy is probably lying.

[theoldman]

3. I think the real answer is that executive bonuses have been a way

of life for many years. As long as a company is solvent, no one questions the practice. It is only when taxpayer money is involved that questions arise.

[tanyev]

4. Uh-oh. Not Me and Ida Know must be working at AIG now.