Reports: AIG to pay out $100 million in bonuses
The Associated PRess
AIG agreed to cut the retention bonuses by $20 million but will still hand out $100 million Wednesday, The New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the negotiations.
FILE - In this June 8, 2009 file photo, Founder and CEO of International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) Steven Udvar-Hazy speaks to media at the 65th International Air Transport Association (IATA) Annual General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Udvar-Hazy is retiring Friday, Feb. 6, 2010, as head of International Lease Finance Corp. as AIG figures out what to do with the unit.
(AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin, file)
The Washington Post, also citing people familiar with the situation, said the retention payments are for employees at the division who agreed to accept 10 to 20 percent less than AIG had initially promised them two years ago. In return, they are getting their money more than a month ahead of schedule.
AIG is still due to pay out tens of millions of dollars more in March, mostly to former employees who did not agree to the concessions, the Post reported.
A message was left with an AIG spokesman seeking comment.
New York-based AIG faced intense public and Congressional criticism last March when it paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in retention bonuses to employees months after receiving the government bailout.
When the credit crisis hit in the fall of 2008, the U.S. government rescued AIG from the brink of collapse in exchange for an 80 percent stake in the insurer. AIG's near collapse was not due to its traditional insurance operations, but instead risky derivatives contracts written by the financial products division.
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