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Archive for November, 2008
November 24, 2008 12:15 pm
Viral e-mail going around ex-Citi employees. Current Citi employees too, perhaps—but someone tried to send it a bunch of citi.com email addresses, and they all bounced. Surely they cannot have all been terminated. And yet…and yet…
Subject: FW: Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citigroup
November 20 (Bloomberg) — The Somali pirates, renegade Somalis known for hijacking ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, are negotiating a purchase of Citigroup. The pirates would buy Citigroup with new debt and their existing cash stockpiles, earned most recently from hijacking numerous ships, including most recently a $200 million Saudi Arabian oil tanker. The Somali pirates are offering up to $0.10 per share for Citigroup, pirate spokesman Sugule Ali said earlier today. The negotiations have entered the final stage, Ali said. “You may not like our price, but we are not in the business of paying for things. Be happy we are in the mood to offer the shareholders anything,” said Ali. The pirates will finance part of the purchase by selling new Pirate Ransom Backed Securities. The PRBS’s are backed by the cash flows from future ransom payments from hijackings in the Gulf of Aden. Moody’s and S&P have already issued their top investment grade ratings for the PRBS’s. Head pirate, Ubu Kalid Shandu, said “we need a bank so that we have aplace to keep all of our ransom money. Thankfully, the dislocations in the capital markets has allowed us to purchase Citigroup at an attractive valuation
and to take advantage of TARP capital to grow the business even faster.”
Categories: For Public Comment
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November 22, 2008 10:15 am
Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. government may step in to rescue Citigroup Inc. after a crisis in confidence erased half the bank’s stock-market value in three days, according to investors and analysts.
This is as good a time as any to remember that a few years ago Citi was the largest bank, not only in America but the world; and that the First National City Bank, successor to Nicholas Biddle’s Bank of the United States, was for many decades one of the most secure and well-managed corporations in the world.
The trouble began only when John Reed acceded to Sandy Weill’s merger plans ten years ago (and the SEC gave approval). Sandy Weill was basically just another Icahn or Boesky, an egotistical corporate raider who bought up long-established companies (e.g. Salomon Brothers, Travelers Insurance), gutted them for their hard assets and goodwill, and used the proceeds to buy a new venture to add to his towering monument to himself.
Before calling on Federal funds, Weill’s assets should all be attached. That would be fitting and moral, but there doesn’t seem to be any legal way to manage it…
Categories: Uncategorized
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November 21, 2008 2:32 pm
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Ooops! Investors just realized it’s not a seller’s market for financial companies. Back goes the stock to three-and-change.
