NU Online News Service, Nov. 11, 3:27 p.m.EST

American International Group Chief Executive Robert Benmoschehas written company employees telling them he is committed toleading the firm and they should ignore speculation he planned toquit.

His letter followed publication of a Wall StreetJournal report today that he had told his board last week hewas quitting, and then agreed to reconsider at the board'surging.

The article suggested he was upset since the government, whichholds a 79.9 percent interest in the debt-burdened firm, had setrestrictions on what executives there could be paid.

Kenneth Feinberg, the executive pay coordinator for the Obamaadministration, last month slashed payments for AIG's top 25employees by 91 percent for the remainder of the year.

Mr. Benmosche in his letter addressed possible employee concernsabout "news accounts speculating about my frustration with the timeand effort it is taking to ensure that our top 100 executives arecompensated fairly."

"To be certain, I and the board are indeed frustrated and we arein ongoing discussions with Treasury and the Special Master toresolve the uncertainty surrounding this issue. However, as I havesaid before, the vast majority of AIG employees are unaffected bythis issue."

However, he wrote that he and the board "remain totallycommitted to leading AIG through its challenges and to continuingto fight on your behalf. We are all working aggressively toovercome this compensation barrier that stands in the way ofrestoring AIG's value and allowing us to live up to our obligationsto all stakeholders: our customers, who have remained loyal; ournearly 100,000 employees, including 46,000 here in the U.S.; ourshareholders and creditors."

His letter told employees they were all "doing a great job underdifficult circumstances. You have suffered terrible losses--many ofyou have seen life savings vanish. But you have persevered andwe're now seeing progress. Our results for the last two quartershave demonstrated greater stability and our businesses arerecovering."

AIG in the third quarter reported net income of $455 millioncompared to a loss for the period last year. The third-quarterprofit was less than the second quarter's $1.8 billion after highercapital losses.

The CEO asked employees "not to be distracted by speculativemedia stories and to maintain your focus on the important work youare doing. People--you--make AIG strong and successful. I amimpressed every day at all that you are accomplishing and I thankyou all. I'm proud to have this opportunity to work with you torestore our company."