Word: weills
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BARRED. SANDY WEILL, 70, CEO of financial giant Citigroup; from dealing directly with his company's research analysts about investment concerns without a company attorney present; by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory agencies; as part of a global $1.4 billion settlement with 10 Wall Street firms accused of corrupt stock research; in Washington. The severe Citigroup stipulation, which comes on top of fines and sweeping policy changes required of all 10 banks, follows the disclosure, first reported in 1999, of Weill's efforts to persuade Citigroup analyst Jack Grubman to raise his rating of AT&T, where...
...would be logical to him because he is adding value for shareholders. Weill works tirelessly. The companies he took over were either in desperate shape or fat, dumb and happy; he made them lean and mean--and spread stock options through the ranks. Langley's Weill is deal hungry, overcompensated and, when necessary, cold blooded. He famously ousted his respected protege and potential successor at Citigroup, Jamie Dimon (now CEO of Bank One), to preserve his own power...
Unless they were his perks. As Langley documents, somewhat uncritically, Weill exemplified the superstar CEO, with a double standard that grew with his deals. He bristled at the $30 million golden parachute that Gerald Tsai crafted for himself in selling Primerica to CCC, but at the same time, Weill insisted on buying Primerica's Gulfstream IV jet as part of the deal. Weill is the kind of guy who could finish off a $200 lunch, return to the office and slash 2,000 jobs...
Langley's reporting on the Citicorp-Travelers merger and the titanic cultural battle that ensued between the cerebral John Reed and the gut-driven Weill is spectacular. Can you imagine a $73 billion company with two CEOs and three presidents? Reed's defenestration seemed just a matter of time, to everyone...
Langley's writing isn't quite up to her reporting. Beyond Weill, the characters seem flat and their stories just litanies of facts. But the facts speak volumes about one of the greatest businessmen of the past century. Weill doesn't get to go out a hero--at least not yet. Citi has been sullied by evidence that its stock analysts touted shares of suspect firms to win their investment-banking business, and Weill has promised to do "whatever it takes" to get the firm in order. He's nearly 70 but has shown little interest in naming a successor...