Memo from 21st Century (a division of AIG)

Dear 21st Century Insurance Policyholders:

On behalf of all the employees of 21st Century Insurance and Financial Services (21st Century Insurance), I first want to thank you for your continued loyalty and support during these challenging times.

I would like to take a moment to address some items that have undoubtedly created a level of uneasiness and frustration for many of our customers. Because of the tremendous support and cooperation from the United States government and its taxpayers, our parent company, AIG, has been able to continue its operations as a world-class provider of insurance services. However, with this support comes a high-level of attention to all of AIG's activities.

It is important to clarify that although the insurance companies affiliated with the 21st Century Insurance brand are subsidiaries of AIG, they have not accessed or needed any of the Federal Reserve borrowings to fund their operations. Nor have they received any capital contribution from any AIG company to support their operations. 21st Century Insurance is an organization of 6,500 employees whose mission is to deliver outstanding value and service for your auto insurance needs - a mission we are striving to achieve every day.

The insurance companies affiliated with 21st Century Insurance, which underwrite and provide coverage under your policies, are financially strong and continue to deliver outstanding coverage, service and payment of claims to all of our customers. The assets of the insurance companies are protected by state laws for the benefit of policyholders.

Additionally, AIG recently announced the formation of a general insurance holding company called AIU Holdings, Inc. This move will help enhance and protect the value of those property and casualty companies for all its stakeholders. The organization will include the Commercial Insurance Group, Foreign General unit, and other property and casualty groups. 21st Century Insurance will also be part of this new, separate organization.

We genuinely appreciate your business. At 21st Century Insurance, we are focused on putting you, the customer, first, and we look forward to providing you with the great coverage and award-winning service that you deserve.

Sincerely,
Anthony J. DeSantis

Memo from Craig Dubow

Dear Co-workers:

We are about to begin the second quarter without any real relief in sight from this unprecedented economic downturn and its challenge to our company. Despite all of your truly remarkable efforts to reverse the trend, our revenue numbers continue their downward slide and we have been faced with more difficult decisions.

One of those choices was between more layoffs or another round of furloughs. We chose, for most employees, a furlough program consisting of at least one week of unpaid leave to be taken in April, May or June.

The program will differ from the first quarter’s in a couple of important ways:

• The length of the furlough for employees will vary somewhat by division or location, depending on the division’s operating needs and results.
• Our higher salaried employees will be asked to make an additional sacrifice. This could be a second furlough week or a week’s furlough plus a temporary salary reduction equivalent to one week’s pay for the quarter, depending on the division and/or location.
• Some hourly employees will not be required to take a full week. Each division or location will have different requirements for employees in this category.

Because of the variations, your division head will be the main source of information about your particular program. Memos will be going out shortly to each of you with specific details.
Corporate employees will be participating, as with the first quarter’s program, including all of our company officers and me. Corporate’s memo will come from Gracia.

There will be some exemptions, similar to the first quarter’s program. For instance, some locations that recently have had, or are in the midst of, layoffs or significant salary reductions will be exempt. Represented employees again will be asked to participate in lieu of layoffs.

As with our first program, we are doing furloughs to hopefully mitigate the need for layoffs and to preserve our operations in the face of these extraordinary economic times. We believe this is the best possible course, given the alternatives.

We also need to keep innovating, selling ads and reaching out to audiences to prepare for the return of the economy. When that happens, I believe we will be well prepared to move quickly and take advantage of the new opportunities.

Again, I must thank you all for your hard work, loyalty and dedication. I am truly looking forward to the day I can send an email that congratulates you on getting us through these hard times. That day isn’t here yet, but I believe it will be. So we must continue to do whatever we can to keep Gannett strong and prepare for the future.

Sincerely,
Craig