(BusinessWeek.com) — When Tidjane Thiam was strategy director at British insurer Aviva in 2006, he tried to buy Prudential, the U.K.’s biggest insurer. The bid failed. Thiam’s career flourished and subsequently he moved to Prudential (which has no connection to the U.S. company of the same name) and became chief executive officer seven months ago. Now he’s trying another ambitious acquisition—the purchase of American International Group’s (AIG) AIA Group for $35.5 billion. If he fails this time, investors say, he may pay with his job, and the 162-year-old insurer itself could be broken up.
