Citigroup To Lay Off 5% of Its Global Workforce

Citigroup confirmed yesterday it will cut 17,000 jobs worldwide, with the majority of the cuts (57%) coming outside the U.S. The company has faced increasing pressure to reign in expenses after they rose 15% to $52 billion last year, versus revenue which rose only 7% to $89.6 billion. The layoffs represent about 5% of Citigroup's 327,000 employees globally; in addition, the company revealed that approximately 9,500 jobs will be moved to lower-cost locations. Citigroup is expecting to save $4.6 billion through 2009 as a result of the cuts. The company failed to disclose further details related to the job cuts. Shares fell $0.60, or 1.15% to $52.80 in trading yesterday, before recovering $0.20 in after hours action.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal
Commentary: Citigroup Will Cut 26,000 Jobs in Effort to Streamline -- New York Times • Citigroup Needs Un-Grouping • Citigroup Set To Finally Consolidate Computer Systems
Stocks/ETFs to watch: Citigroup (C). Competitors: J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Deutsche Bank AG (DB), Credit Suisse Group (CS), ABN AMRO (ABN), UBS AG (UBS), Barclays PLC (BCS). ETFs: iShares S&P Global Financial Index Fund (IXG), iShares Dow Jones US Financial Services (IYG), Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF)

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