CONSECO/WENDT comparison with GREENBERG/AIG:JUST as GOOD:
But Barron's has learned that Evan had been chafing
under the tight management strictures that
his father, 75, had imposed on him
. Hank has run the company for the past 33 years
and has built it into a $200 billion behemoth………….
……… Succession at AIG is by no means a pressing issue.
Hank Greenberg is blessed with extraordinary vigor and vision,
and longevity seems to run in the family.
-----------------------------------------------
Comment:
Wendt is 57: If he works till 75 he can certainly do as good as Greenberg.
He has already a team in place and the major Hurdle:Restructuring is done.
The team can carry on with a lot now .
He just got married.
He appears quite health.
In fact in just 2-3 years CNC will be closer to $30-40.
TA
===========================================
September 25, 2000
Follow-Up
A Father-Son Rift
Why seeming heir Evan Greenberg left the No. 2 job at insurer AIG
The news sent a shock through the financial industry when it hit the wires early Tuesday morning. Evan Greenberg, the 45-year-old president, chief operating officer and heir apparent to his father, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, was resigning from the financial giant American International Group. It mirrored a hasty departure from AIG by his 49-year-old brother, Jeffrey, in 1995. Jeffrey, at the time, was widely thought to have a dynastic claim to the chairmanship and CEO job at AIG, but instead ended up winning the top spot at the insurance brokerage and money-management company Marsh & McLennan.
AIG refused to comment on Evan's departure beyond saying that he had resigned and wasn't fired. Both Evan and Hank were unavailable for comment. But Barron's has learned that Evan had been chafing under the tight management strictures that his father, 75, had imposed on him. Hank has run the company for the past 33 years and has built it into a $200 billion behemoth.
The growing tension came to a head two weeks ago when Hank appeared to side with his long-time vice chairman, Tom Tizzio, in a dispute with Evan over the running of AIG's domestic property and casualty business. Evan had pushed for pedal-to-the-metal growth, given the recent signs of improved premium rates. Tizzio had recommended continued caution.
The Greenbergs, father (cover picture) and son.
As a result of what he considered a slight by his father, Evan told the elder Greenberg last Monday that he was quitting. A management meeting was hastily cancelled. Father and son were later seen in a Midtown Manhattan hotel having a long private lunch after both had attended an industry gathering.
Barron's delved into the succession question at AIG in a November 29, 1999, cover story entitled "Mr. Irreplaceable3." We concluded that Greenberg pere would be tough to replace, even if Evan proved up to the task. Preposterous stories circulated last week that AIG might buy Marsh to get Jeffrey back in the fold, or acquire Conseco to secure the eventual succession of GE Capital vet, Gary Wendt.
Succession at AIG is by no means a pressing issue. Hank Greenberg is blessed with extraordinary vigor and vision, and longevity seems to run in the family. Few outside financial executives short of, say, a Robert Rubin at Citigroup have the scope or operating experience to run the highly diversified AIG, which has interests ranging from insurance and money management to commodity trading and aircraft leasing. The company's bench strength is considered better than average. Despite a brain drain of talented AIG executives who have left the company in recent years for senior positions at other insurers, the company merely lurches on to earnings record after earnings record. Over the past 10 years, AIG's stock has outperformed even that of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
If anything, AIG may be better off now with the issue of nepotism removed. Though, as we pointed out in our story, Evan had built a respected track record in his quarter-century at AIG. He has been disparaged as being abrasive and he was a virtual unknown to the all-important Wall Street community. Additionally, he lacked the diplomatic experience of his father, who has made a point of knowing heads of state and other key decision makers in the scores of countries in which AIG does business.
So the succession search begins anew.
-Jonathan R. Laing
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) interactive.wsj.com
(2) interactive.wsj.com
(3) interactive.wsj.com
(4) interactive.wsj.com
(5) interactive.wsj.com |
