In terms of Jack Flack’s five levels of CEO media hell, AIG’s Martin Sullivan has now graduated from "on the ropes" to "dead man walking". The WSJ’s headline says it all: "AIG’s Chief Faces Worries
Of Investors and Directors" – which means that board members are now grumbling to the press, rather than to the CEO directly. When that happens, it’s all over – especially with Hank Greenberg grumbling loudly on the sidelines:
Several top shareholders of AIG have called me expressing deep concern about the persistent and seemingly endless destruction of value at AIG. They, and I, are deeply distressed by the excessive loss of value…
AIG is in crisis.
There’s no way that Sullivan can survive this. The question isn’t whether he’ll be ousted, only when.