Word: greenberg
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...Lewis, superintendent of the New York Insurance Department in the late 1970s, who had several run-ins with him. "Many times he was right; the department was wrong." In one such case, says Lewis, state lawmakers resisted efforts to ease the regulation of insurance premiums paid by big business; Greenberg argued that these were sophisticated clients who could protect themselves. "He would absolutely get in your face," says Lewis. "But he was right...
...Greenberg was able to persuade foreign leaders and regulators to do his bidding, he was at times a tyrant too. He demanded loyalty and was capable of terrorizing the people who worked for him. "I always prepared myself to the hilt when I was to see him," says Gerard Roche, veteran executive recruiter at Heidrick & Struggles, which has placed executives at AIG. Greenberg liked to keep his meetings short--say, 10 minutes--and quickly lost patience with anyone not prepared. Then would come the famous Greenberg tongue lashing. His former daughter-in-law Nikki Finke, who knew the family throughout...
...Greenberg, whose net worth has been estimated at more than $3 billion, certainly didn't need more money. Indeed, he and the entities he controls have given away hundreds of millions of dollars to charities. It's no coincidence that on the New York social scene, few people are willing to criticize Greenberg: he's still way too rich and powerful to alienate. Yet even in this sphere, Greenberg is known as quick-tempered--even yelling at people who dared to ask him to boost his giving...
...demanding personality, combined with an almost regal confidence, that enabled Greenberg to build the AIG empire. In the early days he used to drive through New York telling independent insurance agents that if they had clients no one would insure, he'd write the policy that day. "If he could comprehend it, he'd underwrite it," says Joe Coughlin, a risk consultant at Corporate Risk Solutions. That confidence, which still permeates the culture at AIG, led the firm to embrace businesses that others would turn down, from firearms dealers to makers of football helmets to school-bus companies...
Today AIG operates in 130 countries, has a stock-market value of $143 billion and nearly $100 billion of annual revenue. It's had a staggering transformation from the obscure firm that Greenberg took command of in 1967 and took public two years later with just $13 million of annual profit--a figure that swelled to $11 billion by last year. While building AIG in the 1970s and '80s, Greenberg often was the only foreigner in sight in politically combustible countries like Romania, Iran, Vietnam and other parts of the Far East, and would draw a curious crowd just crossing...