Vikram Pandit With Charlie Rose
Video - Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit - Nov. 2008
- "We know Citigroup was too big too fail, but is it too big to manage?"
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Pandit on Citigroup's bad loans...
Pandit doesn't mention his own hedge fund was sold to Citigroup back in 2006 for $800 million and 12 months later the fund was shuttered for a total loss.
In other words, taxpayers essentially paid for Citi's ridiculous purchase, and Pandit took home almost $200 million (his stake) at our expense.
And here are those links...
Rubin and Citigroup were eyeing Old Lane as an acquisition—not for high-yield returns, but for Pandit, a potential candidate to one day run Citi. In April 2007, Pandit sold Old Lane to Citi for $800 million, a price tag that boggled the minds of Wall Street observers. Pandit personally reaped a huge bounty, what amounted to $165 million in cash. With his windfall, he bought a ten-room, $17.9 million co-op apartment on Central Park West, the former home of the late actor Tony Randall. Rubin made little pretense about why Citi had spent so much money: He publicly called Pandit “a genius.”
http://nymag.com/news/businessfinance/55035/index3.html
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In another blow to its already battered reputation, The WSJ says Citigroup plans to close Old Lane, a hedge fund it paid $800 million for less than a year ago.
Adding insult to injury, Old Lane was co-founded by Vikram Pandit, Citi's current CEO. Pandit personally netted $165 million from the transaction, which paved the way for his rise to the top of Citigroup after former CEO Chuck Prince was ousted.
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Story from earlier today...
Oct 10, 2012 at 1:20 PM
Reader Comments (7)
several more short clips from this interview are here...
A unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based holding company issued $750 million of 4.25 percent, 10-year notes yesterday priced to yield 95 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-04/buffett-locks-in-interest-rates-on-new-bonds-as-yields-rising-with-economy.html
[snip]
Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, sued Citigroup Inc. along with Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and Chairman Richard Parsons over $835 million in losses in Citigroup stock and bonds.
Citigroup misrepresented its financial condition and failed to disclose material information, leading the Norway bank to buy the New York-based bank’s stock and bonds at inflated prices during the period between January 2007 and January 2009, Norges Bank said in the Sept. 17 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
http://wallstreetpit.com/18652-vikram-pandit-blames-short-sellers-for-citis-problems
[snip]
Vikram Pandit, chief executive of Citigroup (C), on Thursday blamed short sellers for company woes rather than the culture of greed, arrogance, and excessive risk taking which unfortunately, has and continues to permeate the entire financial industry ; an industry worth pointing out which almost took the entire financial system down.