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The article reports American International Group Inc. (AIG), an Insurance company, which plans to sell its mortgage-guarantee unit and states that AIG is planning an initial public offering of United Guaranty, a mortgage lender, while retaining a majority stake. It also provides AIG's mortgage-insurance operation's pretax operating income and its year-to-date return of capital to shareholders.

The article reports that Fred Salerno, lead independent director at mass media firm Viacom, has been seeking access to its founder Sumner Redstone through letters to his new attorney Michael Tu for face-to-face meeting. Topics discussed include public statements made by Viacom about Redstone, firing of Philippe Dauman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Viacom, and a lawsuit filed against the trust seeking to block their dismissal and accused Redstone.

The article reports on a federal court ruling that removes the systemically important designation of insurance company MetLife and its implications for its key competitors, Prudential Financial Inc. and American International Group Inc. It highlights the plan of MetLife to divest a large piece of its U.S. life insurance unit. Information about the systemically important designation given by federal government to banks and other financial institutions is provided.

The article discusses the independence of boards of most large companies in the U.S. but some of those independent directors have close ties to the companies and executives they oversee. These include Stanford University president John Hennessy who has served as an independent director of technology firm Google Inc., Andrew McKenna of restaurant chain McDonald's Corp., and Charles Gifford and Thomas May who serve together on the board of financial services firm Bank of America Corp.

The article reports on the deal between Chinese multinational consumer electronics and home appliances company Haier Group Co. and American conglomerate General Electric Co. (GE) to buy the appliance business of GE which is expected to be completed in 2016. Topics include the termination of GE's deal with Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB, the attempt of GE to sell the business prior to the financial crisis and the struggle of Haier to gain small foothold in the U.S.