By Ben Berkowitz

(Reuters) – Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffett said he has stage 1 prostate cancer but his condition “is not remotely life-threatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way.”

Buffett, the world’s third-richest man, will begin a two-month treatment consisting of daily radiation treatments starting in mid-July, he said in a statement on Tuesday. This will limit his ability to travel during that time, Buffett added.

By Ben Berkowitz

(Reuters) – Berkshire Hathaway Inc Chief Executive Warren Buffett disclosed on Tuesday that he has stage 1 prostate cancer but said his condition “is not remotely life-threatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way.”

Buffett said in a statement he will begin a two-month treatment consisting of daily radiation treatments starting in mid-July. This will limit his ability to travel during that time, he added.

BOSTON, April 16 (Reuters) – Nearly three in four corporate
risk managers are not buying insurance policies to cover data
breaches and damage to customers’ privacy despite the rising
threat of hacking, according to a survey released on Monday.

Not only are most North American companies shunning coverage
entirely, many of those who are taking out “cyberinsurance” are
buying policies with only limited protection in case of an
attack, consultants Towers Watson said in their annual
review of corporate risk.

April 12 (Reuters) – AIG’s domestic life insurance
unit will unify its sales organizations and bring in a Goldman
Sachs executive to oversee a new separate unit dealing with
companies that want to terminate pension plans, the chief
executive of the life insurance business said on Thursday.

SunAmerica Financial Group is one of AIG’s core businesses,
along with global property insurer Chartis. Though only a
fraction of Chartis’s size on a premiums written basis,
SunAmerica is generally more profitable.

By Ben Berkowitz

(Reuters) – A federal appellate court ruled on Tuesday that drugmaker Pfizer (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) can face asbestos liability suits in state court over products once manufactured by a bankrupt subsidiary, dragging out a dispute that has already lasted more than 30 years.

At issue is insulating products made by Pfizer unit Quigley Co Inc that contained asbestos. Quigley, which Pfizer bought in 1968, at one time faced suits by more than 160,000 plaintiffs. It filed for bankruptcy in 2004.

BOSTON (Reuters) – CEO Bob Benmosche says U.S. taxpayers will earn up to $10 billion on the $182 billion rescue of American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the insurance company he runs. Of course, that depends on how one defines “profit.”

How much AIG actually borrowed after it was saved from bankruptcy in late 2008, how much it still owes and questions about the point at which the U.S. Treasury breaks even on its shares all complicate any calculation about how much the government will make on the insurer’s bailout.

BOSTON, March 27 (Reuters) – CEO Bob Benmosche says U.S.
taxpayers will earn up to $10 billion on the $182 billion rescue
of American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the insurance company
he runs. Of course, that depends on how one defines “profit.”

How much AIG actually borrowed after it was saved from
bankruptcy in late 2008, how much it still owes and questions
about the point at which the U.S. Treasury breaks even on its
shares all complicate any calculation about how much the
government will make on the insurer’s bailout.

March 21 (Reuters) – The Hartford Financial Services Group
, under pressure from its biggest shareholder, famed
hedge fund manager John Paulson, said it would get rid of most
of its life insurance-related operations.

The Hartford, one of the oldest companies in the United
States and one of three insurers to get a government bailout
during the financial crisis, said it would shut down its annuity
business and pursue a sale or other options for its individual
life insurance, retirement plan and broker/dealer businesses.

BOSTON, March 14 (Reuters) – More housing markets are
still seeing price weakness than price strength, though parts of
recession-hit states like California and Florida are showing
some signs of improvement, mortgage insurer United Guaranty Corp
said on Wednesday.

In total, nationwide 170 markets are considered stable but
214 are in some stage of decline.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Citigroup and MetLife led a list of financial institutions that failed the Federal Reserve’s latest round of stress testing Tuesday, a shock result for two companies that were widely expected to return billions of dollars in extra capital to shareholders soon.

MetLife, the largest life insurer in the United States, and Citigroup, the nation’s third-largest bank, were among just four of 19 banks that didn’t pass the latest round of tests. Ally Financial and SunTrust also failed the exam, which applied worst-case scenarios through the end of 2013.