Gothamist has some photos of 175 Water Street in NYC — which until recently proudly displayed the name and logo of the American International Group. What happened?
Well, it seems that there’s a little rebranding going on. Click here to see what the building used to look like.
AIG told the NY Post that “the company had decided to replace the large AIG sign — outside the entrance to its property-casualty offices — as part of its plan to change that operation’s name to AIU Holdings Ltd”
From the NYPost:
A rebranding to distance the giant insurer’s sprawling operations across 130 countries away from the AIG name are likely to continue.
“I think the AIG name is so thoroughly wounded and disgraced that we’re probably going to have to change it,” Liddy told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee last Wednesday.
Any suggestions for him?
No AIG Here! Financial District Building De-AIGs Facade [Gothamist]
(Photo:Dan Albanese)
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Shitheads International Ltd.?
@lannister80: 2nd that!!!
@lannister80:
Good one.
@TNAfan121: Or, just use the acronym
S.H.I.L.
I can’t wait until they put up a new sign with the name foretold by Jon Stewart as more appealing: Herpes.
OPM a.k.a. Other People’s Money
AIU = Ain’t In Yourbest intrest (LLC.) ?
IOU?
@HrPingui: It’s only a short step away (my thoughts exactly!)
@HrPingui: Yes! Exactly.
They’re getting ready to display their Golden Turd there!
Too big to fail and to stupid too not fail Inc? Will that fit?
Huh. “AIU.” That sort of fits.
Taxpayers, time to grab (A)nkles, (I)n (U)nison.
@legwork: lol, thats hilarious coming from “legwork”
So the taxpayers are helping to pay for all the new letterhead, signage, and branding now too…
Just like a criminal tries to change their name and go into hiding.
@Telekinesis123:
Seriously. I would not be surprised if tomorrow I learned they are changing their name to “Blackwater.”
…how about SCRU – Some Criminals Reaming U
Did AIG’s grandmother just co-sign its lease for it as well?
UFIA America
Wow, they really went for a bold chang there; one whole letter different!
I guess they will have to get new checks with the new name on it so that Chris Dodd and Barack Obama know exactly who is giving them those large campaign donations.
Do we get to pay for a fancy new sign? Great…
@TheBusDriver: And new offices for everyone since I’m sure the color scheme would clash, and we can’t have that now can we?
Seems like I commented on rebranding just yesterday…. No surprises here… Wonder if AIG/AIU will be surprised when the American People aren’t fooled by a silly name change?
@Michael Worth: Um…. I hate to break it to you, but are you aware of what the American peoples’ collective attention span is? (I’ll give you a hint… not great)
@alexcassidy: Anyone remember what Altria used to be called? Wait, you’ve never heard of Altria?
Oh, they used to kill people or something.
@smackswell: Philip Morris.
And if they had changed it in the heyday of the tobacco politics wars (5 years ago?) people might have remembered. But they did it quietly once they were a bit out of public view. Changing AIG to AIU or whatever it is right now won’t work, since the new name will still be in headlines. Wait a few years, and it’ll work.
PM’s seems to have worked quite well since I can’t remember if they’ve gone back to the PM, or spun off their international group… there was some corporate shifting a short time ago, but the specifics elude me. Hmmm. Maybe the Altria thing worked.
@oneandone: Frankly, I think AIG’s name change is brilliant, just like Philip Morris to Altria. Altria is instantly forgettable. People hear the name and instantly forget it. AIU? It’s a bunch of vowels. As long as this debaucle is in the public eye, they will be referred to as AIG. After people move on to something else in the news, the company will fly under the radar.
@smackswell: Checked Wikipedia to make sure I was right in that Altria is the new name for Phillip Morris, and found this:
The name “Altria” comes from the Latin word for “high”…
If they switch to a certain other plant to make cigarettes from than their name would be perfect!
I honestly think AIG is simply hoping that if they remove all signage and make sure employees never display logos or credentials when leaving the building (ala the previous AIG security memo) there is less likelihood that the (obviously clueless) angry taxpayer will know where to locate them for revenge and/or public floggings.
run-on sentence ftw!
maybe it’s due to all the death threats that the average worker has been receiving… feel bad for them
Time to make a giant “AIG” stencil and head down there tonight with a ladder and some spray paint.
@Canadian Impostor: snerk!
@Canadian Impostor:
Hmmm…speaking of things to stencil in NYC…how about great big targets (with point values) on the sidewalks?
Another 10 million to be spent on a name change? Will the phone number change too?
AIU Holdings, Inc. is a unique franchise with employees worldwide and 500 products and services serving 40 million commercial and individual customers.
AIU Holdings is the marketing name for the worldwide property casualty insurance operations of AIU Holdings, Inc. and AIU Holdings LLC. In the United States, all products are written by insurance company subsidiaries of AIU Holdings, Inc.
This is the same as Phillip Morris changing their name to Altria Group. Same sh*t, different name.
Change the name of the company: Check.
Change the people in charge that ran it into the ground: Whoa whoa there, let’s not go crazy.
It was probably in an effort to keep the building from getting vandalized.
What people are do not get is that this is the Commercial Insurance part of AIG… The part of AIG that actually makes money and has billions of dollars in operating reserve that is completely seperate from AIG, Inc. The stigma that AIG, Inc. (and AIG FP in gerneral) brought on the rest of the profitable, well-run portions of the company have caused a makred down-turn in insurance sales even though individual units within CI have billions of dollars in reserve above what is needed to pay all claims. For example, NFUIC, an underwriter, has $12 Billion in reserve that cannot be touched by AIG, Inc. This is a formal rebranding and seperation from the tainted AIG name.
IMO… “IOU Holdings Ltd” would be a much better name
@ganzhimself:
Or… What People do not get… Ok, it’s been a long day and I had a typo. Oops.
I thought AIG was supposed to be selling off those other assets to pay their debt to us. So why bother rebranding it when your supposed to be selling it?
This is about like Blackwater renaming themselves Xe. Still the same bunch of mercenary crooks.
How about “POS”?
AIU sounds a lot like IOU…their business model for the taxpayers for the next 1000 years…
I don’t remember reading that in the AIG security memo last week…
AIU = America’s Indignant Usurpers
I think HrPingui won the thread already.
Why the bother with a name change? It is going to be wildly spread through the media as what the name is and what it used to be. Are they expecting to fool everyone with this or something?
G.A.G. (Great American Greed)
A company that is insolvent and supposed to be selling itself off doesn’t need a new name and high-dollar marketing campaign. It needs to SELL ITSELF OFF, NOW.
I find it abhorrent that AIG is being used as a scapegoat by the Obama administratation. Who cares about 165 million in bonuses, thats a mere drop in the swimming pool of the 1.8 trillion deficit created by Pelosi and pushed through by Congress, earmarks and all. Now they want to throw in another trillion, are they insane? That means Obama will have created a deficit in ONE YEAR greater than the waste Bush produced in eight!
Definitely because of the AIG death threats, and threats to damage the building. Landlords are worried about their building, and AIG employees are getting horrible threats. Even the secretaries are being threatened. It only takes one nutjob to actually follow through, and kill some poor employee that had nothing to do with the scandal.
Don’t know about a name, how about a slogan?
“10% more incompetent than our new government owners!”
or
“Under New mis-Management!”
Of course, some of us wonder what’s worse. A company like this failing and acting miserably with taxpayer funds – or a government that freely continues to give funds to failing businesses.
If ever you wonder why many of us are cynical about Washington Politics, especially the current regime of “change”. Look no further than the $600,000 AIG contributed to campaigns last year, including over $100,000 each to Obama and Dodd. Soooo, they get taxpayer money, then turn around and give it politicians, who in turn give it back to them in the form of more bailout $$. Seems like good work if you can get it. What ticks me off is how the mainstream media continues to focus on AIG, yet never reports on the idiots in Washington who continue to compound the problem by throwing more money at it.
How about calling it “The Chapter 7 Investment Group”? Their new motto could be “Going out of business since sometime in 2007″.
EBC: Executive Bonus Club
“Where the Elite Meet to Take Your Money”
“FU”
It’s pretty much been their business model after all…
Almost In Uranus
Maybe somebody should haul a giant bronze statue of bull crap in front of their building.
I wonder how much it cost them to remove the sign? just another way to chuck more money down the hole… oh wait we are all supposed to be positive in these rough times, I bet they created a job for the afternoon billed out to the company for $6000.00 and paid the guy $15.00 for the hour it took to remove.
Xe: Financial Division
“Anal Injury Unlimited…making butthurt since 2009″
Hmmmmm…a new sign is in order….
How about “WTF”
Maybe they tried to send it in to Cash to Gold?
BOA