Greenberg pledges $1 mln for China earthquake relief

Posted by Admin
Wed May 14 20:11:08 PDT 2008

NEW YORK, May 14 (Reuters) - Billionaire Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has pledged $1 million to aide relief efforts in parts of China ravaged by a deadly earthquake this week.

Greenberg, former chief executive of insurer American International Group <AIG.N>, now runs a private group of companies, and a charitable foundation.

"We are giving $1 million to the relief program" said Greenberg, who has been doing business in China for decades.

"I spoke with the Chinese ambassador this morning to find out what organization we should use to make that donation," he said in an interview with Reuters.

China's official death toll from the earthquake, which caused damage across a wide swath of southwest Sichuan province, had climbed to 14,866 by Wednesday.

A charitable organization Greenberg controls, the Starr Foundation, has donated more than $2.3 billion since it was formed about three decades ago.

After Greenberg's split with AIG in 2005, he retained control of, and now runs, several entities that had been affiliated with AIG, including investment companies Starr International Company Inc, and C.V. Starr & Co Inc, that together have assets of about $23.5 billion.

Through a personal stake, and control of other entities, Greenberg controls about 12 percent of AIG's outstanding shares.

(Reporting by Lilla Zuill; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Provided by Reuters

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