AIG was the premier insurance operation in the world for almost two decades. Revenue went from $81.3 billion in 2003 to $108.9 billion in 2005. But, long-time CEO Hank Greenberg got in trouble with prosecutor Eliot Spitzer who claimed that some of AIG's transactions with certain re-insurers were set up to improve the company's earnings. In March 2005, he left the company he had built. Like many other large financial firms, AIG made some remarkably poor investments in 2005 and 2006. Almost all were made by people Greenberg had trained, particularly his replacement Martin Sullivan. There will always be a debate about whether Greenberg created a culture which encouraged taking substantial risks. In the last quarter, AIG was forced to write down $9.1 billion on the value of its credit-default swaps. More write-offs are likely to show up in future quarters. To make matters worse, the SEC and Department of Justice are looking at how AIG valued credit default swaps, an indication that some of the numbers may have been "improved" to make the company's financial performance look better. Several Wall Street firms have lost a great deal of money off credit and mortgage-backed paper. Few have lost what AIG has, and none have gotten themselves into the position where the liability of their actions could do permanent damage to the firm. The board was cavalier enough to push out Sullivan in favor AIG's non-executive chairman, Robert Willumstad, a former Citigroup executive. Where was Willumstad when AIG was getting into terrible trouble while he was managing the board? Moving him into the top job may be the worst CEO selection of the year. From $73 a year ago, the stock has fallen to $32.

I wonder what is going to happen to this stock now, since the feds have gotten control over the company