Maurice Greenberg, the former chief executive officer of AIG, sent a letter to current CEO Edward Liddy opposing a potential sale of AIG's Asia-Pacific unit, American International Assurance. Greenberg, who argues that the unit is one of AIG's "crown jewels," urged the company to put on hold any sale until "the appropriate people in the [Obama] administration can determine what is best for the U.S. taxpayer." Greenberg and affiliates hold 270,491,939 shares (10.06% of the total outstanding).

73114 Investments wants to "investigate possible mismanagement, breaches of fiduciary duty, waste of corporate assets and fraud at the company in connection with the stock grants "under the 2006 plan and the amended employment agreements." 73114 Investments may "initiate and prosecute litigation on behalf of the company and/or its stockholders depending on the results of this investigation." 73114 Investments holds 2,292,895 shares (18.6%).

TRT Holdings wants to inspect Gaylord's records of, among other things, expense reimbursements to company executives. TRT is seeking to nominate four directors to GET's board, and intends to use the information from the records to evaluate possible "corrective measures," including possible litigation. TRT holds 6,131,930 shares (14.9%).

Wilshire wrote to shareholder Phillip Goldstein, saying that his notice to nominate four directors was past deadline. Goldstein had notified Wilshire of his intention to nominate himself and three other candidates at the Feb. 26 annual meeting. Goldstein's group holds 1,296,524 shares (16.4%).

Mario Gabelli's Gamco Investors (GBL) sent to Standard Motor CEO Lawrence Sills, suggesting that SMP consider "a going-dark transaction." Under it, SMP would cut its total of shareholders and eventually delist its shares from the New York Stock Exchange. Gamco would support this, if SMP's securities are then traded in the pink sheets and the company provides continuing information to shareholders. Gamco and affiliates hold about 3.04 million shares (16.15%).

Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA), which has long filed disclosures as a passive investor, changed its filing status Jan. 23, but indicated that it doesn't plan to take a more active role. Berkshire continues to hold 48 million Moody's shares, but because of buybacks, its stake now equals 20.2% of the total of shares outstanding. A holding above 20% triggers a change in filing status and requires investors to disclose any activist intentions.

Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates' investment firm boostd its stake to about 3.4 million shares (9.6%) from the 2.56 million (7.38%) it held on Sept. 30. Gates' Cascade Investment said that it expects to engage in discussions with Otter Tail's management about business and strategic direction.

Fosun Industrial is increasing its stake to about 17.84 million shares (13.18%) from the 1,330,112 (12.07%) that it had reported owning on Jan. 5. The stake is in the form of American depositary shares, each of which represents four ordinary shares.