What’s $34 Billion on Wall Street?

UNDER the stewardship of Dow Kim and Thomas G. Maheras, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup built positions in subprime-related securities that led to $34 billion in write-downs last year. The debacle cost chief executives their jobs and brought two of the world’s premier financial institutions to their knees.

In any other industry, Mr. Kim and Mr. Maheras would be pariahs. But in the looking-glass world of Wall Street, they — and others like them — are hot properties. The two executives are well on their way to reviving their careers, even as global markets shudder at the prospect that Merrill and Citigroup may report further subprime losses in the coming months. Read more..
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/business/yourmoney/27kim.html?_r=1&em&ex=1201410000&en=1b5f65e4f3c47453&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin

Citigroup CEO gets $26.7 million in stock, 3 million options

NEW YORK — Citigroup (C) awarded Chief Executive Vikram Pandit $26.7 million worth of shares and 3 million stock options six weeks after he took over the largest U.S. bank, and a week after the company reported a record $9.83 billion quarterly loss.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday night, Citigroup said Pandit was awarded 1,094,949 shares Tuesday under a company incentive plan adopted in 1999. Read more..
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2008-01-25-citigroup-ceo-pay_N.htm?csp=34

Citigroup may cut 24,000 jobs as loans crisis grows

The fallout from America’s mortgage meltdown continued at Citigroup yesterday amid reports that the world’s biggest bank was poised to cut up to 24,000 jobs, that it planned a substantial dividend cut and that the Chinese Government had pulled out of a deal to inject about $2 billion (£1 billion).

The job losses, up to 8 per cent of Citigroup’s 300,000 staff, were reported by CNBC, the American television news network.

Citigroup is expected to announce a hefty dividend cut for the fourth quarter, perhaps by as much as half, which would save about $5 billion if maintained over a year.

Meanwhile, it became apparent that the state-owned China Development Bank had rejected an opportunity to invest after several weeks of discussions.

However, the bank is expected to say that it has agreed a multibillion-dollar injection from a consortium of Asian and Middle Eastern investors. Its balance sheet has been badly damaged by billions of dollars of losses on investments in sub-prime mortgages and it is expected to announce further sub-prime losses today, with some reports suggesting as much as $24 billion for the fourth quarter. Read more..
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3187637.ece