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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Frantic Citigroup Considers Sell-Off

Merger or sale become options as bank scrambles to stop the drop

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(Newser) – Citigroup is keeping all its options on the table as its share price plunges—including selling itself, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal.  The battered giant's share price plummeted another 26% yesterday—its worst one-day hit ever—chalking up an 83% dive for the year. Directors plan crisis talks today.

Citigroup's chief insists the bank is still stable and is strongly opposed to a sell-off—but the steep slide has made once-unthinkable options a possibility. Analysts believe Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are likely candidates for a Citi merger, but brutal market conditions mean suitors will be more inclined to pick off Citi's more lucrative units, rather than swallow it whole.

An office tower bearing the Citigroup logo in Queens.
An office tower bearing the Citigroup logo in Queens.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People walk by a newspaper poster headlining job cuts at Citigr in London's financial district.
People walk by a newspaper poster headlining job cuts at Citigr in London's financial district.   (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
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We're getting to the critical doomsday question: What happens when a megabank like Citi fails? The biggest banks are not just important to the banking system, they are the banking system.
- Martin D. Weiss, founder of Weiss Research.

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petepenguin
Nov 22, 08 12:13 AM CST
Stable as an anchor going to the bottom. Reply
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