“We’re not up to the level of earnings and profitability and sustained, responsible growth we know we can get this thing to,” Parsons told CNBC, ahead of the bank’s annual meeting in New York City. “I think that’s the assignment for this year.” [CNBC]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

“This  move  is  simply  a  poorly  thought  out  one  by  management;  hopefully  it  will  do   better  running  the  business.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Not everyone was impressed with the reinstated dividend and reverse stock-split announcement.

“A lot of it was due to the low price, they want to make it more attractive,” said Matt McCormick, a portfolio manager at Cincinnati-based Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel, which owns bank stocks but not Citigroup. The reinstated dividend and the reverse split together are “a token,” he said. “It’s not enough for me to express interest in it.”

Vikram dressed as a candy striper and handing out free 100 Grand bars would be a good start though. Would at least get him to think about reconsidering things.

Citi To Resume Dividend [Reuters]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

The body language experts at Fox Business could tell Vikram Pandit was telling the truth when he said it because he didn’t run away. He stood there. Cool. Calm. And owned it.

Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Shares of Corning (GLW) are down 69 cents, or almost 3%, at $22.68 as mixed reviews continue to pop up following the company’s analyst day on Friday. The reviews include at least one downgrade, by Citigroup’s Jim Suva.
Suva cut the stock to Hold from Buy, writing that the timeframe of [...]

Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily

The investment in the former has made Paulson and Co over $1 billion since mid-2009 and the latter is on the up and up.

Citigroup was the fund’s most profitable bank holding last year, Paulson said in a letter to clients this month. “Citigroup demonstrates the upside potential of many of the restructuring investments we have added to our portfolio and our ability to generate above-average returns in large positions,” Paulson said in the letter. Paulson sold 82.7 million shares in New York-based Citigroup in the third quarter, leaving it with 424 million shares, according to filings. The bank was Paulson’s fourth- largest U.S. equity holding in the period.Paulson, which manages $35.9 billion, said it expects to see continued U.S. economic growth this year.

“We believe the U.S. economy is recovering and we anticipate continued growth,” the firm said in the letter.

Paulson Made More Than $1 Billion On Citigroup Stake [Bloomberg]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

From Citi’s latest 8-K, which Vikula is going to have framed and hung in his office:

On January 18, 2011, the Personnel and Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of Citigroup Inc. approved an increase in the annual rate of base salary for CEO Vikram Pandit from $1 per year to $1,750,000 per year, effective immediately. Richard Parsons, Chairman of the Board of Citigroup Inc., said that “the Board is very pleased with the progress that the company has made under Vikram’s leadership. Vikram has worked tirelessly to put Citi back on the right track, spearheading a restructuring that has returned the company to profitability and positioning the company for future growth. In light of these highly positive accomplishments, the base salary established for Vikram is merited.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Proving yet again that in this country, we don’t let banks fail, no matter how hard they try.

Citigroup Inc. executives, on the brink of a bank run in 2008 that U.S. officials believed could imperil the global economy, griped that terms of a taxpayer bailout would be too costly for the company. “Many people” at Citigroup opposed the proposal, even after the bank’s stock price plunged below $5, companies started pulling deposits and trading partners demanded collateral, according to the top U.S. bailout watchdog. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair worried the bank wouldn’t be able to open on Monday, Nov. 24, the next business day. The report yesterday by the inspector general of the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, Neil Barofsky, lays out bank executives’ efforts to get a better deal during three days of negotiations in November 2008 that federal officials later dubbed “Citi Weekend.” Two months earlier, the bankruptcy of Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. had sent global markets into a tailspin.

Citigroup Executives ‘Griped’ About Take-It-Or-Leave-It Bailout [Bloomberg]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

For those of you who failed to mark it down on your calendars, please be advised that today is Vikram Pandit’s birthday (his 54th to be exact). Normally we’d tell you to drop what you’re doing and pick up something for him A-SAP but this year we’d advise you to go the no presents route. Not because Vickles is one of those faux modest jerks who says “no gifts, just your company” while not really meaning it but because we can say with absolute certainty that you will not top the gift to end all gifts Vikula is already poised to receive. Dick Parsons, if you’ll do the honors.

“Pandit Set to Report His First Annual Profit as Citigroup CEO“

That’s right everyone. This is finally happening. And that’s not all. In addition to living every CEO’s dream, the day Vikram will “make more than $1 a year” is so close he can taste it. If you absolutely must give him something, consider an item that will commemorate this historic occasion, like a hoodie with the words “Big Baller” stitched on the back or a motorcycle with a “Fuck You” license plate.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

“While there was consensus that Citigroup was too systemically significant to be allowed to fail, that consensus appeared to be based as much on gut instinct and fear of the unknown as on objective criteria,” according to a report today from Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. “The conclusion of the various government actors that Citigroup had to be saved was strikingly ad hoc.” [Bloomberg]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker