|
Published December 10, 2007 at 11:32 AM
|
After all the speculation to the contrary, it seems Citigroup Inc. will tap insider Vikram Pandit for the corner office, according to various media reports. With the prospects of snagging a Wall Street insider as the next CEO of the troubled financial giant looking less likely by the day last week, it comes as little surprise that Pandit is clearly the front runner.
Continue reading below
Although Pandit is a Citi employee, he's only been with the firm since July, when he sold his hedge fund Old Lane Partners LP to the bank for $800 million, so in some regards he's not really an insider. Prior to launching Old Lane, he was with Morgan Stanley. Depending upon sources, Pandit could be named CEO as early as Monday or as late as next week.
The main point of contention, according to various reports, is whether Pandit could wear both the CEO and chairman's titles, so there is still a chance someone could poach it away from him.
Consequently, Dealscape again has updated its handy color-coded "CliffsNotes" of possible candidates compiled from various sources. We've turned everyone to blue except, obviously, Pandit, and, less obviously, former Citi COO and current AIG chairman Robert Willumstad, who some media outlets suggest is the only dark horse candidate capable of satisfying shareholder demand as someone taking both the CEO and chairman's jobs.
- Vikram S. Pandit, 50, founder of Old Lane Partners LP, which, following Citi's $800 million purchase of the hedge fund, now heads Citi's alternative investment group and the investment bank
- Robert B. Willumstad, 62, Citigroup’s former chief operating officer, who left in 2005 after being passed over in favor of Chuck Prince for the CEO spot, currently the chairman of American International Group Inc.
- Michael A. Neal, a General Electric vice chairman and the head of the conglomerate's commercial finance unit
- Richard M. Kovacevich, 64, a Citicorp executive in the 1980s who later became chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo
- James Dimon, the 51-year-old J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. chairman and chief executive
- John Thornton, a longtime dealmaking executive at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
- Kenneth I. Chenault, American Express Co.’s 56-year-old chairman and chief executive
- Richard D. Fairbank, Capital One Financial Corp.’s 57-year-old founder and chief executive
- Michel Tilmant, 55, the Belgian-born chairman and chief executive of ING Groep NV
- Laurence D. Fink, BlackRock Inc.’s 55-year-old founder and chief executive, who was on Merrill Lynch's short list before John Thain was named CEO
Off the list:
- Josef Ackermann, 59, Deutsche Bank AG CEO
- Henry M. Paulson Jr., 61, currently the Treasury secretary
- Michael Goodwin, the CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc
- John A. Thain, head of the New York Stock Exchange, who left to become CEO of Merrill Lynch & Co., thereby taking him off the list
— Matthew Wurtzel
See Pandit story from The Financial Times
See Pandit story from The Wall Street Journal
See Pandit story from Dealbook
See Pandit story from Reuters
See Pandit story from BloggingStocks
See Neal story from DealBook
See Ackermann story from the Financial Times
See Ackermann story from the New York Post
See Ackermann story from Dealbreaker
See Dealscape: Rubin approached RBS' Goodwin
See Dealscape: John Thain is not a Citi contender
See Dealscape: An open field for Citi's CEO spot?
See Dealscape: Music stops for Citi's Prince
|
