Tidjane Thiam bid for AIA, the Asian wing of the crisis-stricken AIG. A public battle ensued, with some investors complaining about the $35.5 billion price Prudential was offering to pay. The bid eventually failed, after the AIG board rejected a revised lower bid. AIA was later floated on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the value of the company quickly rose above Prudential’s original bid price. Thiam came under strong personal criticism following the failure of the bid, partly as a result of the costs incurred by the company in pursuing the bid. However, he was re-elected as CEO at the May
Tidjane Thiam he was awarded the Grand Prix de l’Économie, organised by Les Échos and Radio Classique, in partnership with law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. In July 2018, business and finance magazine Euromoney named Thiam "Banker of the Year 2018", citing his "radical three-year plan" that had "reinvented" Credit Suisse. Tidjane was married to Annette Thiam, an African-American lawyer who used to work for Joe Biden, and they have two sons. In October 2015, it was reported that they had separated. In addition to being a dual citizen of the Ivory Coast and France, he speaks English, French, and German, fluently. Tidjane