Equity

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Equity [Abstract]

Equity

11.   Equity

Convertible Preferred Stock

In connection with the financing of the Acquisition, in November 2010, MetLife, Inc. issued to AM Holdings 6,857,000 shares of convertible preferred stock with a $0.01 par value per share, a liquidation preference of $0.01 per share, and a fair value of $2,805 million. On March 8, 2011, MetLife, Inc. repurchased and canceled all of the convertible preferred stock for $2,951 million in cash, which resulted in a preferred stock redemption premium of $146 million. See Note 2.

Common Stock

On March 8, 2011, MetLife, Inc. issued 68,570,000 new shares of its common stock at a price of $43.25 per share for gross proceeds of $3.0 billion. In connection with the offering of common stock, MetLife, Inc. incurred $16 million of issuance costs which have been recorded as a reduction of additional paid-in capital. The proceeds were used to repurchase the convertible preferred stock issued to AM Holdings in November 2010. See Note 2.

Stock-Based Compensation Plans

Payout of 2008 — 2010 Performance Shares

Performance Shares are units that, if they vest, are multiplied by a performance factor to produce a number of final Performance Shares which are payable in shares of MetLife, Inc. common stock. Performance Shares are accounted for as equity awards, but are not credited with dividend-equivalents for actual dividends paid on MetLife, Inc. common stock during the performance period. Accordingly, the estimated fair value of Performance Shares is based upon the closing price of MetLife, Inc. common stock on the date of grant, reduced by the present value of estimated dividends to be paid on that stock during the performance period.

Performance Share awards normally vest in their entirety at the end of the three-year performance period. Vesting is subject to continued service, except for employees who are retirement eligible and in certain other limited circumstances. Vested Performance Shares are multiplied by a performance factor of 0.0 to 2.0 based largely on MetLife, Inc.’s performance in change in annual net operating earnings and total shareholder return over the applicable three-year performance period compared to the performance of its competitors.

The performance factor was 0.90 for the January 1, 2008 — December 31, 2010 performance period. This factor has been applied to the 824,825 Performance Shares associated with that performance period that vested on December 31, 2010 and, as a result, 742,343 shares of MetLife, Inc.’s common stock (less withholding for taxes and other items, as applicable) were issued (aside from shares that payees earlier chose to defer) during the second quarter of 2011.