Want to know what you just bought? AIG is the poster child of hiding what the execs make.

http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2002/foth020212.htm?source=EDSTRM

FOOL ON THE HILL
How Much Do AIG Execs Make?

By Bill Mann (TMF Otter)
February 12, 2002
skip

I found something really troubling about AIG, though. It is impossible to tell how much several of AIG's top executives are being paid to discharge their duties in running the company. What is clear is that Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and several other top executives make truckloads of money, as they should, given the company's performance during their reigns. What is less clear, due to an inscrutable relationship between AIG and two private companies plus a foundation, is just how big that particular truck is. While there is nothing inherently wrong or illegal about this, there's not a whole heck of a lot right about it either.

skip

Lying on top of AIG, controlled by its top executives are three private entities, called C.V. Starr & Co., Starr International Company (SICO), and The Starr Foundation. I emphasize that these entities do not appear in any way to hide assets, debts, or any other assorted shenanigans. But their existence and the role they play in compensating AIG brass betrays a certain principle upon which the public markets are built: shareholders ought to be able to tell how much they're paying executives to do their jobs.

skip

In this way, AIG is effectively fully controlled by the management, who have a significant enough voting bloc (23.9%) to pass any shareholder proposal they wish. Add to this the fact that AIG's 18-member board is comprised of six employee directors, one Chairman of SunAmerica, a wholly owned subsidiary, and two directors who provide services to AIG, and you have a company where the management can make decisions without external oversight. The board is packed with insiders, and though they own less than 4% of the company outright, management wields nearly unbreakable voting power.

It reminds me of nothing more than a corporate structure one finds in China where the controlling family of a company owns a paltry amount of stock, but wields control through a web of assignees and holding companies. . .

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E1DE1731F93BA15755C0A9639C8B63

A.I.G. Provides Details Of Executive Compensation

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
Published: June 28, 2005

The American International Group, the global insurance giant, spelled out yesterday the details of an unusual and secretive executive compensation plan that had for years been overseen and controlled by Maurice R. Greenberg, A.I.G.'s former chief executive.

Many details of the payments, which were made through two separate but related companies called Starr International and C.V. Starr, have not been disclosed in previous filings.

They were described in A.I.G.'s proxy statement, which was filed late yesterday in advance of its annual meeting on Aug. 11. It outlines the compensation paid in 2004 and two previous years to A.I.G.'s top executives, including Mr. Greenberg, who was ousted by the company in March.

The company, which is under investigation by federal and state prosecutors, disclosed extensive accounting irregularities this year and said in May that its earnings for the past five years would have to be restated by almost $4 billion.