What's Behind Sluggishness at AIG

What will AIG (AIG - commentary - Cramer's Take) do when 10% of the company is not forever for sale?

The Greenberg charitable trust owns that much of this stock, and Greenberg is not affiliated with the darned company and I believe he hates the stock. I watch this company, which reported the biggest upside surprise of the insurance group, and I am amazed that it can't go higher.

But a motivated seller with a big piece of business can't be stopped. And he can hurt the stock.

No one except Hank Greenberg knows how much of the charitable trust's stock is for sale -- maybe very little. But you have to wonder why the heck he would keep any, given that he is in competition with his old company. If you are trying to wipe out a company -- which is what his company could do -- you don't own that company's stock.

So I think that could be behind the sluggishness of the stock.

The earnings certainly aren't.

Random musings: I am sick and tired of hearing how much Goldman (GS - commentary - Cramer's Take) Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein is making when I compare his package to the man who helped bring down a great American company: Hank McKinnell, the endlessly promoting empty suit who ran Pfizer (PFE - commentary - Cramer's Take) in the ground. So embarrassing. Some board there.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long AIG and Goldman Sachs.

ALL JIM CRAMER BLOG ENTRIES | POST A COMMENT | READ COMMENTS  

---

Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. Click here to order Cramer's latest book, "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order his book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by clicking here.

TheStreet.com has a revenue-sharing relationship with Traders' Library under which it receives a portion of the revenue from Traders' Library purchases by customers directed there from TheStreet.com.