[bratticus]

Citi On Fire?
Investors flee Vikram Pandit's megabank, fearing it may be in worse shape than ever.

Liz Moyer
Forbes
January 13, 2009

Anxiety about the fate of Citigroup is growing.

Investors fear the company may need more assistance from the federal government to stay afloat, even after regulators organized a $20 billion bailout in November, including a guarantee of $300 billion in loans on Citi's books. That came in addition to the $25 billion in funds Citi received from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program in October.

... skip ...

The bank faces fourth-quarter losses in the neighborhood of $4 billion to $8 billion and another round of write-downs and loan loss reserves.

... skip ...

Citi already lost face in October when it failed to prevail in a bid to buy Wachovia (nyse: WB - news - people ), a deal that was arranged with the help of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That would have brought Citi an attractive deposit base in the Southeast and West, and the FDIC would have blunted any negatives by taking on some of Wachovia's book of bad loans.

... snip ...

[Narz]

Good, I hope they go under.

[dbruning]

When they go, won't that knock a lot of support out of the remaining banks? Who would buy Citibank out? Who could?

I know there is a lot of money being stockpiled to buy banks that are failing... but still.

[Ferretlover]

Don't worry until someone says, "We in fine shape!"

[nobodypanic]

When they go, won't that knock a lot of support out of the remaining banks?

mmm SKF... yummy.

[gandolf]

Don't worry until someone says, "We in fine shape!"

LOL

[Dreamtwister]

Don't worry until someone says, "We in fine shape!"

LOL

You laugh, but it's true. Remember what happened with Wachovia? The CEO, Robert Steele sent out a letter to clients on September 26 that literally said "Everything's fine", and 48 hours later, they were locking the doors.

Who would buy Citibank out? Who could?

I'm used to people calling me a conspiracy theorist, so I'll be the one bold enough to say "JP Morgan Chase" will be the last bank standing.

[IslandCrow]

Citi Group and Morgan Stanley

Struggling US banking giant Citigroup and its rival Morgan Stanley have agreed a deal which sees the tie-up of their brokerage operations.

Morgan Stanley is paying Citigroup $2.7bn (£1.9bn) for a 51% stake in the joint venture while Citigroup will have a 49% stake.

Observers say the deal showed how much Citigroup wanted to slim down its operations and build up cash reserves.
....
Citigroup is expected to report its financial results on 22 January, with analysts expecting the bank to post a big loss.

The company has announced 52,000 job losses worldwide, on top of 23,000 job cuts previously announced. It employs about 12,000 people in the UK.

With another bit partially sold off, Citibank is getting smaller...how much smaller will they have to be to stop being "too big to fail"?

[Sixstrings]

Investors have no confidence in the CEO, that Vikram fellow. It's disturbing that these CEO's clutch their thrones for dear life when the right thing to do for the good of the company would be to step aside. And of the course the Board never removes them, since the Boards are made up of other CEO's, current and retired.

It's all a big insider's club, no representation for the stockholders or taxpayers -- the folks who actually fund these enterprises.

It's 1770 all over again. Taxation without representation.

[Specop_007]

Investors have no confidence in the CEO, that Vikram fellow. It's disturbing that these CEO's clutch their thrones for dear life when the right thing to do for the good of the company would be to step aside. And of the course the Board never removes them, since the Boards are made up of other CEO's, current and retired.
It's all a big insider's club, no representation for the stockholders or taxpayers -- the folks who actually fund these enterprises.
It's 1770 all over again. Taxation without representation.

I fail to see how the current CEO steppping down will solve any of the problems faced by any of the troubled companies. Otherwise however I agree with you.

[bratticus]

I fail to see how the current CEO steppping down will solve any of the problems faced by any of the troubled companies.

People will have more confidence when we have a scapegoat.

"See folks, the problem is solved since we found the bad guy."

[bratticus]

Citi's in Dust
[flash width=425 height=344]http://www.youtube.com/v/_hMagNuhLkk[/flash]

Were you praying at the bailout shrine?

[biofuel13]

Citi is all ablaze this morning. Stock down another $1 which is 23%.

Stick a fork in them. They are done. Another huge financial bites the dust.

[ReverseEngineer]

Citi is all ablaze this morning. Stock down another $1 which is 23%.

Stick a fork in them. They are done. Another huge financial bites the dust.

Not done, merger time. Hello Morgan Stanley Goldman Chase Citi Bank of America Federal Reserve.

Not done because then the FDIC would have to make good on all the insured accounts, and Citi is NOT Indy Mac. This would bankrupt the FDIC immediately.

Failure of this institution makes it still harder to keep the Shell Game going. Fewer Shells all the time of course. You are supposed to figure out which shell the money is under after Henry slides them around. Big surprise, ALL the shells are EMPTY!

Reverse Engineer

[jasonraymondson]

Does it mean I don't have to pay them back the 500 I have charged?

[IslandCrow]

Instead of "being on fire" how about "falling apart"?
Citigroup to split in two

Struggling US banking giant Citigroup has announced plans to split the firm in two, as it reported a quarterly loss of $8.29bn (£5.6bn).
It said it would realign itself into two new businesses, Citicorp and Citi Holdings
... Most of its riskier assets will be placed in Citi Holdings.

[bratticus]

Job Cuts Roundup - 2009 Edition

...Citigroup announced in November that over the course of 2009 they would be submitting layoffs internationally to the tune of a shocking 75,000 jobs. ...

[sameu]

citicorps

that's an appropriate name

[bratticus]

Don't worry until someone says, "We in fine shape!"

worry

[evilgenius]

Investors have no confidence in the CEO, that Vikram fellow. It's disturbing that these CEO's clutch their thrones for dear life when the right thing to do for the good of the company would be to step aside. And of the course the Board never removes them, since the Boards are made up of other CEO's, current and retired.

It's all a big insider's club, no representation for the stockholders or taxpayers -- the folks who actually fund these enterprises.

It's 1770 all over again. Taxation without representation.

Yes, very astute insight!