AIG's quarterly loss is historic at $62 billion

NEW YORK - American International Group Inc. managed to lose $62 billion in just 92 days. That's nearly $470,000 a minute. And it's more money than Bill Gates' net worth.

The insurance giant's fourth-quarter loss, reported yesterday, was the biggest in corporate history, topping the previous record of $45 billion set by Time Warner Inc. during the fourth quarter of 2002.

That news came as the government said it would put another $30 billion in taxpayer money into the ailing New York insurance company, which already has received about $150 billion in U.S. aid since September.

But that hasn't stopped the losses at AIG. The company, first wounded when the housing slump and credit crisis decimated the value of its investments in mortgage-backed securities, is now being hurt by the recession as well.

AIG's quarterly loss totaled $61.7 billion for the October-to-December period, about 12 times the $5.3 billion it lost in the same quarter of 2007.

It also was more than half the $114.53 billion lost by nearly all other Standard & Poor's 500 companies combined in the fourth quarter. This is the first quarter that the S&P 500 has tallied a loss.

AIG lost more in the fourth quarter of 2008 than it made in total from 2001 to 2007, when net income totaled more than $58 billion.

Beyond just financial markets, this super-size loss stands out.

If $62 billion were spread across the U.S. population, Americans could each get about $200.

The $62 billion could have funded the salaries of every player of every Major League Baseball team in 2008 about 23 times. It also could have covered the salary of the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez, the highest paid player in baseball in 2008 at $28 million, about 2,202 times.

AIG's loss is more than Bill Gates' net worth of $57 billion as of September, according to Forbes magazine's "400 Richest Americans" list that had Microsoft Corp. founder Gates as No. 1.

The U.S. government provided $62 billion for immediate relief and rescue efforts in the months after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

AIG's loss amounts to 92 percent of the $67.4 billion that Americans spent at world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the fourth quarter, which includes the holiday season.

It would take a person spending $1 million per day, everyday, the next 169 years to spend as much money as AIG lost during the fourth quarter, which lasted just 92 days.