• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents

2

Current price of oil as of July 13, 2026

3

Current price of silver as of Monday, July 13, 2026

1

The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents

2

Current price of oil as of July 13, 2026

3

Current price of silver as of Monday, July 13, 2026
Finance

AIG Settles with Activist Carl Icahn

By
Stephen Gandel
Stephen Gandel
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Stephen Gandel
Stephen Gandel
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 11, 2016, 6:11 PM ET
CNBC Events - Delivering Alpha 2015
CNBC EVENTS -- Pictured: Carl Icahn, Chairman, Icahn Enterprises, at the 2015 Delivering Alpha Conference on July 15, 2015 -- (Photo by: Adam Jeffery/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)Photograph by Adam Jeffery — CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Score another victory for activists, sort of.

On Thursday, American International Group (AIG) agreed to give two board seats to hedge fund managers Carl Icahn and John Paulson, both of whom had called for the giant insurer to be split up. Paulson, who made billions betting against banks and mortgage bonds in the run up to the financial crisis, will join AIG’s board, along with Samuel Merksamer, who is a managing director of Icahn Capital.

In a statement, Icahn, who has been waging a high profile fight with AIG for months, and was threatening to take the company to a proxy fight unless it agreed to a breakup, says he declined to join AIG’s board—implying that he was asked—because he is too busy. In their own statement AIG says, “John and Samuel will bring financial and business expertise to the Board, and we look forward to benefiting from their insights as we move forward with our strategy to create a leaner, more profitable and focused AIG.” Despite the addition of the two board members, the company has no plans to change its current strategy, according to a source familiar with the insurer’s agreement with Icahn.

As victories go, it was a minor one for the activists, at least for now. While AIG is adding the two hedge funders, it is expanding its board, not replacing any directors so they will be two of 16 votes on the board. What’s more, AIG gets to avoid a costly and distracting proxy battle, and it will mostly stay together for the time being.

And avoiding a distraction is something CEO Peter Hancock probably needs right now. On Thursday, AIG reported that had an after-tax operating loss $1.3 billion, or $1.10 a share, in the last three months of 2015. The company had earned $655 million is the same period a year ago. And analysts had been expecting the company to earn $0.91 a share, according to Bloomberg.

Last month, AIG announced a plan that would spin off a portion of its mortgage insurance business into a separately traded public company. It also said it would return as much as $25 billion in capital to shareholders over the next two years. Hancock told Fortune at the time that he thought his plan was better than Icahn’s and that he hadn’t talked to the investor recently. Hancock has argued that AIG is better as a whole because of diversification.

Icahn has argued that AIG would be better off split up in part because it would be able to avoid being labeled a systemically important financial institution—regulator speak for too-big-to-fail—which comes with added regulatory costs. In his statement, Icahn says he continues to believe that AIG would be better off “smaller and simpler” than it is now, and that he work to help the company shed its SIFI designation.

About the Author
By Stephen Gandel
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

U.S. launches new strikes on Iran while Tehran mocks Trump’s reversal on charging for Hormuz transits — ‘20% is of course too much. We will be fair’
PoliticsIran
U.S. launches new strikes on Iran while Tehran mocks Trump’s reversal on charging for Hormuz transits — ‘20% is of course too much. We will be fair’
By Jon Gambrell, Konstantin Toropin, Will Weissert and The Associated PressJuly 13, 2026
6 hours ago
Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell face each other.
North Americagovernment spending
McConnell’s absence could jeopardize Republicans’ defense spending agenda as the Iran war escalates
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 13, 2026
6 hours ago
SoFi® vs. College Ave student loans
Personal Financestudent loans and debt
SoFi® vs. College Ave student loans
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 13, 2026
8 hours ago
SoFi® private student loans review 2026
Personal FinanceLoans
SoFi® private student loans review 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 13, 2026
9 hours ago
college
Personal FinanceColleges and Universities
The real reason college costs 43% of family income isn’t tuition
By Thomas Adam and The ConversationJuly 13, 2026
9 hours ago
Trump takes a page from Iran’s playbook on the Strait of Hormuz, leveraging U.S. influence over the contested chokepoint to generate revenue
Middle EastIran
Trump takes a page from Iran’s playbook on the Strait of Hormuz, leveraging U.S. influence over the contested chokepoint to generate revenue
By Jason MaJuly 13, 2026
11 hours ago

Most Popular

The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents
Innovation
The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 12, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 13, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 13, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 13, 2026
19 hours ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 13, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 13, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 13, 2026
19 hours ago
Trump embraces Australian retirement system backed by Larry Fink
Personal Finance
Trump embraces Australian retirement system backed by Larry Fink
By Brianna Sosa and BloombergJuly 12, 2026
1 day ago
Peter Thiel and other tech billionaires are publicly shielding their children from the products that made them rich
Big Tech
Peter Thiel and other tech billionaires are publicly shielding their children from the products that made them rich
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 12, 2026
2 days ago
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
Success
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
By Preston ForeJuly 6, 2026
8 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.