Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

Register Login What's New Settings

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009

|

RSS |

Follow Newser on Twitter

Twitter

Newser - Current News - Breaking Stories

AIG Gets a Bailout

Started by K Schwartz; Last updated by K Schwartz

Notify editors

AIG Gets a Bailout

"Its collapse would be as close to an extinction-level event as the financial markets have seen since the Great Depression" -- money manager Michael Lewitt of AIG

Stories

Stories 61 - 80 of 122

<< Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>

March 2009
- AIG Uproar Squanders Obama Capital
  
  Washington Post | Mar 17, 09 4:47 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Mounting outrage over the bonuses paid to AIG execs is threatening to bring Barack Obama's presidential honeymoon to a bitter end, the Washington Pos t reports. Lawmakers from both parties are demanding answers the administration is struggling to provide, and the uproar is threatening to sap both public and congressional support for the president's ambitious agenda. More »
- AIG Execs Should Quit or Commit Suicide: GOP Senator
  
  ABC News | Mar 17, 09 2:40 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - AIG's bigwigs should follow the "Japanese example" for shamed executives and fall on their swords, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley believes. The Republican lawmaker told a local radio program that the bosses responsible for running the business into the ground should bow before the American people and apologize, reports ABC. Then they should "do one of two things: resign or commit suicide," the senator concluded. More »
- Obama Goes After AIG Bonuses
  
  Wall Street Journal | Mar 16, 09 12:16 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - President Obama has asked Tim Geithner to use “every legal avenue” to prevent AIG from paying out $165 million in bonuses to top employees who had a hand in the company's near-collapse, the Wall Street Journal reports. "This isn't just a matter of dollars and cents. It's about our fundamental values," said Obama. More »
- In Bailout Fight, Team Obama Fears Backlash
  
  New York Times | Mar 16, 09 8:56 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Obama administration is getting more and more nervous about the possibility of a populist backlash, as anger toward the institutions at the heart of the financial crisis swells, the New York Times reports. That anger may be aimed at anyone linked to Wall Street—including the government that’s bailing the industry out. “The desire for culprits at times like this is strong,” said President Clinton’s former labor secretary. More »
- AIG Used Bailout Cash to Pay Wall Street Debt
  
  Washington Post | Mar 16, 09 6:39 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - More details are emerging after AIG unexpectedly revealed where it channeled bailout funds, the Washington Post reports. More than $34 billion went to AIG Financial Products, whose toxic derivatives brought the parent organization to near collapse last year. The subsidiary used part of that money to pay banks that started demanding collateral as the housing boom waned. More »
- Officials Rage Over AIG Payments
  
  Wall Street Journal | Mar 15, 09 8:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Facing lawmakers' fury over massive executive bonuses, AIG revealed today where it shuttled most of its bailout money, the Wall Street Journal reports. About two-thirds of AIG's $173 billion bailout flowed straight to banks like Goldman Sachs and Société Générale—and other companies and municipalities—to pay for AIG's failed ventures in credit default swaps and securities lending. More »
- Cheney: Obama Making US Less Safe
  
  Politico | Mar 15, 09 9:57 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - President Obama "is making some choices that will in fact raise the risk to the American people of an attack," former VP Dick Cheney charged today. Appearing relaxed and slimmer on CNN’s State of the Union, Cheney upbraided Obama for revising the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policies, which he called “absolutely essential” to preventing another 9/11-style attack. “They are very much giving up that focus that’s required,” Cheney said. More »
- AIG to Dole Out $165M in Bonuses
  
  New York Times | Mar 14, 09 6:35 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Record-breaking losses and $170 billion in federal loans haven't curbed AIG's plan to pay out $165 million in executive bonuses, the New York Times reports. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called up AIG chief Edward M. Liddy to halt the payments, and the company agreed to alter some—but Liddy said in a letter that canceled bonuses could spark lawsuits from angry employees. More »
- Eli Broad: AIG Can't Recover
  
  Reuters | Mar 10, 09 7:20 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Eli Broad, a former director and shareholder of AIG, said yesterday that "it is too late" for the insurance giant to make any recovery. The Los Angeles billionaire told Reuters that the government's initial bailout of AIG came "on the harshest of terms," and that a Citigroup-style guarantee of toxic assets would have been more sensible. Broad said he was no longer investing in insurance: "I don't have any hope, not now." More »
- Fear of Unforeseen Chaos Keeps Feds Bailing Out AIG
  
  Los Angeles Times | Mar 9, 09 8:53 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - If you want to understand the phrase “too big to fail,” look no further than AIG, the Los Angeles Times reports. With $1.1 trillion at the end of 2007, operations in 130 countries and 74 million customers, AIG is so entrenched in the global financial system that its failure would trigger brutal reactions—and it’s the unforeseen ones that keep federal help coming. More »
- Protesters Rip Manhattan Foreclosure Auction
  
  Reuters | Mar 9, 09 2:42 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - New Yorkers protested an auction yesterday of hundreds of foreclosed homes, claiming the forced evictions plaguing the nation in this economic downturn are illegal, and demanding a moratorium. "Banks get bailout out, people get thrown out," read signs held aloft by demonstrators." Their rage was not directed at potential homebuyers, but banks and auctioneers who are "making money off other people's misery," a spokesman told Reuters. More »
- AIG Regulator: We Should Have Stepped in Sooner
  
  Reuters | Mar 5, 09 12:09 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - A “multitude of regulators” failed to spot the liquidity risk AIG was piling on until it was too late, and should have stepped in sooner, the Office of Thrift Supervision told the Senate today. A relatively small unit of AIG was piling up credit default swaps, and “no one predicted, including OTS, the amount of funds that would be required,” if those bets failed, the office’s acting director said. Had regulators realized, they would have made the insurer reduce its exposure. More »
- AIG Posts Record Loss, Gets 4th Lifeline of $30B
  
  Washington Post | Mar 2, 09 6:23 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - AIG posted a quarterly loss of $62 billion today—the largest in American history—following news that Washington will provide an additional $30 billion in cash to the insurer and loosen the terms on previous loans. The Treasury and Fed have now intervened four times to prop up AIG, reports the Washington Post . Once again, federal officials said they had no choice but to save the company, fearing global upheaval if it failed. More »
February 2009
- Ailing AIG Nears $30B Deal With Feds
  
  Reuters | Feb 28, 09 7:22 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Facing a roughly $60 billion fourth quarter loss—the biggest in corporate history—American International Group is cutting a deal with the feds to stay alive, Reuters reports. If AIG's board approves the agreement tomorrow, Washington will give the insurer another $30 billion in equity and a lower interest rate on its current $60 billion credit line. More »
- AIG Negotiating Yet Another Bailout
  
  Financial Times (UK) | Feb 24, 09 6:51 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - AIG is seeking yet another bailout from the federal government, the Financial Times reports, as the troubled insurer prepares to post a quarterly loss the Wall Street Journal expects to exceed $60 billion. The new package would see the government swap its previous $60 billion loan for equity and acquire of some of its Asian businesses. A new bailout would be the third time in just five months that the taxpayer has bankrolled AIG; the authorities already own 80% of the company. More »
- Obama Puts $500K Limit on Exec Pay at Bailout Firms
  
  Wall Street Journal | Feb 4, 09 10:15 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Executives at companies that get “exceptional help” from the federal government are in for a big pay cut, President Obama announced today. Top-level executives will have salaries capped at $500,000, Obama said, “a fraction of the salaries that have been reported recently.” The only other compensation they’ll be eligible for will be restricted stock that vests only after taxpayers have been repaid. Obama also restricted severance packages, saying, “We’re taking the air out of the golden parachute.” More »
December 2008
- AIG's Downfall, Part 2: 'Almost Free Money'
  
  Washington Post | Dec 30, 08 2:20 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - According to the computer models, credit default swaps almost couldn’t fail. They were the latest derivative contract in 1998, and AIG Financial Products decided to get on board, the Washington Post reports, in the second part of its series on the insurer’s self-destruction. When AIG struck its first default swap deal, no one realized it was a turning point that would doom the company; the computers said the deal was 99.85% safe. More »
- How AIG Destroyed Itself (Part I)
  
  Washington Post | Dec 29, 08 4:39 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The roots of the current financial crisis can be traced back to a series of lunches and late-night dinners between two relatively unknown junk-bond traders 20 years ago. Howard Sosin and Randy Rackson had a plan to change the way the financial world did business, provided they could find a patron with a AAA credit rating to try it on. They found one in AIG, the Washington Post reports in the first part of an investigation into the insurer’s fall. More »
- New Yorkers Fight Crisis With Pills
  
  Crain's New York Business | Dec 15, 08 8:24 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - At least there's one market that's booming in New York—the market for pills for your sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression, Crain’s New York Business reports. The meltdown in the financial industry has caused a surge in prescriptions: In September, as Lehman Brothers was collapsing, and AIG and Merrill Lynch were being rescued, sleep-aid prescriptions jumped 11% and anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drug prescriptions climbed 9% compared to a year before. More »
- AIG Looks for $10B More to Pay Bad Bets
  
  Wall Street Journal | Dec 10, 08 7:53 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Insurance giant AIG, already the recipient of a $150 billion government bailout to cover soured credit-default swaps, now admits it owes some $10 billion more for speculative trades it made with its own money, reports the Wall Street Journal . Those deals aren’t covered by the bailout, leaving the struggling insurer looking for ways to cover its losses. More »

Stories 61 - 80 of 122

<< Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>

Japan headquarters of AIG, American Insurance Group, Inc., soars in downtown in Tokyo Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. In a bid to save financial markets and economy from further turmoil, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday it would provide up to $85 billion in an emergency, two-year loan to rescue the New...

Japan headquarters of AIG, American Insurance Group, Inc., soars in downtown in Tokyo Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. In a bid to save financial markets and economy from further turmoil, the Federal Reserve... (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)

A woman walks past the office of U.S. insurance giant AIG, American International Group, in Croydon, South London, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008.

A woman walks past the office of U.S. insurance giant AIG, American International Group, in Croydon, South London, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

A man leaves an American International Group office building Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 in New York.

A man leaves an American International Group office building Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The AIG logo is shown Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 in New York. Stocks headed for a lower open, with investors still anxious about the financial sector even after the government bailed out AIG. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Related Threads

Credit Market Chaos • The Markets • Subprime Collapse • The Big Banks • Congress • Lehman Goes Bust • Henry Paulson • Is It Recession? • The Dow • Ben Bernanke

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most important stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

© 2009 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved.