Martin Sullivan must have realized he had a hard act to follow when he took over for industry titan Maurice Greenberg as CEO of AIG, but I doubt he thought it was going to be this hard, after he was unceremoniously replaced on Sunday in the day-to-day command chair by Robert B. Willumstad, the beleaguered company's chairman.
Mr. Sullivan has taken a public beating of late, with recent shots from his predecessor perhaps serving as the death blow. Mr. Greenberg wrote a letter to the board last month, warning that “AIG is in crisis,” and questioning the logic of a capital-raising plan, mounting losses and other performance issues on Mr. Sullivan's watch.
Mr. Greenberg even urged the postponement of AIG's recent annual meeting, calling for shareholders to be given more time to digest the company's plan to raise $12.5 billion in capital after enduring billions in losses and $15.3 billion in writedowns, prompted by subprime-related credit woes. The writedown alone, according to Mr. Greenberg, resulted in “a complete loss of credibility with the investment community and even further loss of value for shareholders.”
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