What's Citi Doing to Pandit?

Breakingviews today has a very odd column saying, essentially, that Vikram Pandit should keep his job despite the fact that since he took over at Citigroup (C), he’s made a large number of serious mistakes and has done almost nothing right.

The thing which most struck me about the column, however, was the photo which accompanies it, of Pandit sporting a double chin of Larry Summers proportions. It’s not just Pandit’s dot portrait which is changing, it seems, it’s Pandit himself. Here’s a recent shot of Pandit, on the right, next to his official Citi headshot, on the left. Maybe the real question shouldn’t be whether Pandit’s good for Citi, but rather whether Citi is good for Pandit.

Comments

[mgv11:]

I just saw Pandit on CNBC at some roundtable, he looked more like the guy on the left. He also was saying all the right things..... for what that is worth anymore with execs.

Jun 19 11:13 AM

[al s:]

Please, from the first transaction of Pandy, Old Lane Partners, which net cost Citi 1 BiIllion !!!!!, the Board should have said Adios.

But now with the dynamic duo of Pandit & Parsons, there is no hope. Sell off the pieces that can be sold, and stick the government with the $1.5 Trillion of crap hidden in every nook and cranny.

Does anyone really believe that reclassifying preferred to common has made Citi healthy? They are still in a deep coma on life support. Just quanify the revenue that has been lost by all of the divestitures under Pandit's watch and even if they do survive, they will be a mere shadow of a once great company.

Get a real banker, manager, leader in there NOW !!!!!

Jun 19 11:19 AM

[Fourpenny Guy:]

Pandit is clearly not a banker, and Citi has not done a good job in recent years with businesses in which they are supposed to excel. Legg Mason was a disaster for them, and the new Morgan Stanley joint venture is not the best of breed brokerage as advertised. Citi management seems to believe that the laws of economics don't apply to them, or physics for that matter, and leap out of planes without parachutes. Rather than promote fiduciary duty, Citi tends to circumvent regulatory bodies and in the process, clients lose money.

If anyone thinks that the joint venture with Morgan Stanley will go well, consider that neither side has skilled management to make the deal work. Vikram won't see the problems of forcing clients to wait two years for an integration that I seriously doubt will happen, and John Mack's group does not have the education or curiosity to have a superior brokerage. The bottom line is that many of these people at both firms simply do not have the skillsets or the education so necessary to make complex deals work.

If any competitor is worried about the joint venture, don't be. Two years of integration delay is enough time for brokers and assets to leave. Once and for all there is almost an obligation for the brokers to do what is right and tell Morgan to take a hike. Has anyone actually ever seen a Morgan Stanley broker? What happens if Citi cannot support the 49% of the brokerage it supports, and fails? They failed with Legg Mason, and Morgan is just a larger Legg Mason, doomed to incompetence.

Jun 19 12:15 PM

[think befor...:]

Pandit has done a great job under the circumstances and will likely allow Citigroup to get back to profitability soon. Stock will be at a double at least once this calendar year. What have you ever run that allows you to criticize?

Jun 19 04:50 PM

[whisperonth...:]

I got out before it fell too far, and got back in once it started to show signs of life again, so my Citi stock has more than tripled. Now, if it would only just bring back that dividend... or any dividend? Anyone have any idea when that will happen?


On Jun 19 04:50 PM think before you write wrote:

> Pandit has done a great job under the circumstances and will likely
> allow Citigroup to get back to profitability soon. Stock will be
> at a double at least once this calendar year. What have you ever
> run that allows you to criticize?

Jun 20 08:41 AM

[max12345:]

Do you know anyone who gets younger with his job and as the years go by instead of older? If so, I would like to meet him and ask him what his (or for that matter her) secret is. Have a look at a mug shot of Bush before and after, or Clinton or any of the other presidents.

If they don't croak of a heart attack from all the stress and the 20 hour days they can consider themselves lucky. Which is another reason why I try to forgive them for their mistakes (including aspiring to be CEOs or Presidents) if they were done in good faith and while trying to be half way honest, since I wouldn't trade place with ANY of them. (even with seven figure salaries and Congress butting out of executive compensation) Life is too damned short and there are more enjoyable ways to spend it.

Jun 20 09:38 AM

[battman:]

Your comment would make more sense if the "hard working" CEO's weren't making 70 Million dollars a year when their companies were losing Billions.


On Jun 20 09:38 AM max12345 wrote:

> Do you know anyone who gets younger with his job and as the years
> go by instead of older? If so, I would like to meet him and ask him
> what his (or for that matter her) secret is. Have a look at a mug
> shot of Bush before and after, or Clinton or any of the other presidents.
>
>
> If they don't croak of a heart attack from all the stress and the
> 20 hour days they can consider themselves lucky. Which is another
> reason why I try to forgive them for their mistakes (including aspiring
> to be CEOs or Presidents) if they were done in good faith and while
> trying to be half way honest, since I wouldn't trade place with ANY
> of them. (even with seven figure salaries and Congress butting out
> of executive compensation) Life is too damned short and there are
> more enjoyable ways to spend it.

Jun 20 10:02 AM

[Graham and ...:]

Pandit is an example of a hedge fund manager being "swallowed" by his largest investment. A similar thing happened to Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway.

Jun 20 02:30 PM

[farmer448:]

People, I look a Citicorp like GM. Yes they say they are a bank but they treat their retail customers like turds. Customer Service is a joke. Citimortgage cannot even pay escrowed taxes on a timely basis and then blames the customer by charging the customer for the late penalties and interest. They are No 10 in all time bad customer service (MSN Money).

So why would I do business with a bank who cannot even do the basics correctly?

Thank-god their are still regional and locally owned banks....

Jun 20 03:01 PM

[Teutonic Kn...:]

Larry

Jul 01 12:31 AM

[Teutonic Kn...:]

Felix - - -

Lawrence Kamm in his best-selling book "Real-World Engineering" called an engineering consultant an "unemployed engineer".

Giants such as MIT's Alfred P. Sloan and Ken Olsen were technical and entrepreneurial movers and shakers. Pandit was an engineer-turned hedge fund manager, and Thain was an MIT graduate turned investment baker king, both headed to Wall Street to make a fast buck.

According to Kamm's definition of an engineer, I don't know what else to call these guys in this day and age, except to say that America is not quite once it was.

Oh, BTW, Kamm's book though published in the 1990's is still selling well but quite expensive; last I saw it costing about 60 bucks at Amazon for a paperback.

Jul 01 12:41 AM

[Teutonic Kn...:]

baker should be banker, but perhaps he behaves more like a baker of CDS's than a banker.


On Jul 01 12:41 AM Teutonic Knight wrote:

> Felix - - -
>
> Lawrence Kamm in his best-selling book "Real-World Engineering" called
> an engineering consultant an "unemployed engineer".
>
> Giants such as MIT's Alfred P. Sloan and Ken Olsen were technical
> and entrepreneurial movers and shakers. Pandit was an engineer-turned
> hedge fund manager, and Thain was an MIT graduate turned investment
> baker king, both headed to Wall Street to make a fast buck. <br/>
>
> According to Kamm's definition of an engineer, I don't know what
> else to call these guys in this day and age, except to say that America
> is not quite once it was.
>
> Oh, BTW, Kamm's book though published in the 1990's is still selling
> well but quite expensive; last I saw it costing about 60 bucks at
> Amazon for a paperback.

Jul 01 12:43 AM