Citibank’s cloudy future
Is the ailing banking giant near bankruptcy or a break-up?
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
What happened
Citigroup’s board is reportedly meeting Friday to discuss selling off pieces of the banking giant or even the whole company, among other options, after Citi’s stock fell 26 percent Thursday to below $5 a share, its lowest close since 1994. Citi was once the largest U.S. bank, with a market value of $274 billion; now it’s No. 5, worth about $26 billion. (Bloomberg)
What the commentators said
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Clearly, people “are quickly losing faith in Citigroup,” said Mara Der Hovanesian in BusinessWeek online. The bank is “doing its best to calm investors," and one high-roller, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, pledged Thursday to raise his stake by $350 million, to 5 percent. But the market is worried about Citi’s exposure to toxic assets, and many think “some sort of government intervention” will be needed.
How the government could help “is an open question,” said Dan Wilchins in Reuters. The U.S. Treasury has already invested $25 billion in Citi, and it could invest more to “soothe investors.” It could take an 80 percent stake, as with AIG; guarantee Citi’s debt; or force its liquidation or breakup, as with Washington Mutual.
CEO Vikram Pandit is already “dismantling parts of the company,” said Liz Moyer in Forbes online. He’s aiming to cut 52,000 jobs, half from selling off businesses. But Pandit isn’t keen on truly breaking up his megabank, and selling or spinning off major units “may be impossible,” anyway, in this market.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Biden's first rodeo
cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Biden's stumble
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
The daily gossip: Travis Kelce chats about Taylor Swift's Chiefs game visit, Hollywood writers thrilled with details of new contract as strike ends, and more
The daily gossip: September 27, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published