AIG American International Group Inc

By Leslie Scism 

American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Peter Hancock's total compensation fell 23% to $9.58 million last year as the global insurance conglomerate suffered setbacks in its profit-improvement plan.

Mr. Hancock has since resigned from the firm but remains at the helm until a successor is named. He came under pressure from the board as it feared a potential fight with billionaire investor Carl Icahn if he wasn't replaced.

In a regulatory filing Thursday, AIG's board also disclosed that hedge-fund manager and large shareholder John Paulson is leaving the board "due to his other time commitments," while Samuel Merksamer, a representative for Mr. Icahn, is standing for re-election.

Both men joined the board last spring as AIG sought to avert a public fight with the activist investors over ways to boost shareholder returns. Mr. Paulson's Paulson & Co. hedge fund sold nearly half its shares in the fourth quarter but still owned 4.55 million shares as of March 15, according to the AIG filing.

For much of last year, AIG was making headway in improving its profit margins, but the insurer closed the year with one of its biggest quarterly losses since the financial crisis.

Mr. Hancock earned a base salary of $1.6 million, the same as in 2015, though the year-earlier compensation included an extra payroll period to make it $1.66 million.

Write to Leslie Scism at leslie.scism@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 13, 2017 16:47 ET (20:47 GMT)

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