Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc., recipient of a $182.3 billion U.S. government bailout, will release third-quarter results this week without a conference call for analysts and investors.

AIG will skip, for the second straight quarter, the audio presentation and question-and-answer session that accompanied earnings in the past, Christina Pretto, a spokeswoman for the New York-based insurer, said yesterday. AIG, led by Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche, will post results before the start of New York trading on Nov. 6, along with a regulatory filing and financial supplement.

“I don’t think they want to answer any questions,” said Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. “This company has shown itself remarkably unsuccessful in capitalism and remarkably successful in socialism. They are not obligated to do anything they can get away with not doing.”

Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are among bailout recipients that continue to hold conference calls. Citigroup, which took $45 billion from the government, held one on Oct. 15 after the release of third-quarter results. GMAC Inc., the lender that took $13.5 billion in bailout funds and counts the U.S. as its largest shareholder, scheduled one for tomorrow.

“We will provide ample information on our financial results on Friday, and we will be happy to answer questions on our results once they are public,” Pretto said in an e-mail. “We are in daily contact with our majority shareholder.”

Citigroup’s session included managers answering questions about asset sales, investment hedges and the government’s stake.

‘More Sensitive’

“The politics surrounding AIG are more sensitive than with other firms,” said Phillip Phan, professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore. “AIG probably doesn’t want to be caught saying something that hasn’t been approved by their masters.” AIG, which needed four bailouts, is the only recipient of U.S. aid listed by the Treasury Department as a “systemically significant failing institution.”

Benmosche’s predecessor Edward Liddy opted against a conference call in August, at the end of his tenure, after holding them in prior quarters. Former CEOs Robert Willumstad, Martin Sullivan and Maurice “Hank” Greenberg held question-and- answer sessions with analysts.

Benmosche, the former MetLife Inc. CEO who took over on Aug. 10, has told staff in private meetings that he plans to build the value of AIG’s businesses rather than be forced by regulators to sell them at unfavorable prices to repay the U.S.

AIG shares tripled in August, fueled in part by the public release of Benmosche’s comments. The company jumped 21 percent on Aug. 20 after the disclosure that he told employees “I don’t liquidate things, I build them.”

‘Market Confidence’

“Benmosche has been pretty frank, and it’s welcome in some respects, that here’s someone willing to speak candidly,” said Bill Bergman, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. “That’s been a good thing right now for market confidence.”

Benmosche had to apologize on Aug. 31 for comments he made at an employee meeting that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was “unbelievably wrong” for drawing attention to the company’s bonus recipients.

AIG is expected to post third-quarter operating earnings of $2.39 a share, according to the average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The insurer had net income of $1.82 billion in the three months ended June 30, its first profit since 2007, on narrower investment losses and a rebound in some derivatives. Operating profit, which excludes some investments, was about $2.57 a share in the second quarter.

Rescue

AIG may have benefited in the third quarter from gains in the value of investments, said Thomas Gallagher, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, in a note to investors yesterday.

AIG was rescued in September 2008 after wrong-way bets on securities tied to U.S. subprime mortgages brought it to the brink of collapse, threatening to cause a financial-system meltdown. The rescue includes a $60 billion Federal Reserve credit line, a Treasury Department investment of as much as $69.8 billion, and up to $52.5 billion to buy mortgage-linked assets owned or backed by the insurer. The U.S. took a stake of almost 80 percent as part of the bailout.

To contact the reporters on this story: Hugh Son in New York at hson1@bloomberg.net; Dakin Campbell in San Francisco at dcampbell27@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 2, 2009 23:09 EST