Last year, MetLife's combative former CEO Robert Benmosche took on the job of trying to turn around AIG, and pay back the $130 billion in assistance the insurer got from the U.S. government at the height of the financial crisis. This year he struck a number of deals that gets him a lot closer. One was to sell AIG's international life insurance company Alico to his former employer. The deal generated $16 billion for AIG, of which nearly $7 billion was in cash. The rest was in MetLife stock. All told, AIG now has nearly $40 billion in cash, and AIG's stock increased nearly 40% in the first ten months of the year. Benmosche may not be able to stay to complete his turnaround, though. In October the executive announced he was being treated for cancer.