Taxpayers Will Make Billions On Company’s Bailout, Says AIG CEO

Source: Source: CNBC | Published on March 27, 2012

AIG expects American taxpayers will end up with a profit of $5 billion to $10 billion on the company's 2008 rescue when all is said and done, the chief executive of the bailed-out insurer said on Monday.

In an interview on CNBC, Bob Benmosche also said the company now has an "awful lot of capacity" to buy back stock and that he assumes most of those buybacks will come from the U.S. Treasury's 70 percent stake in the company.

The Treasury has been steadily reducing its position in the insurer, whose shares have recently recovered to trade above the government’s $28.73 break-even point.

Benmosche also told CNBC’s Jim Cramer his cancer treatments were going well and that he was in no hurry to retire. At one time he had been expected to retire this summer, though in recent months he has indicated a desire to stay on indefinitely.