Bob Rubin Leaves Citi

Presented without comment from Bloomberg News.  (no comment because I'm still laughing uncontrollably at Pandit's comments!).

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Robert Rubin, the former Treasury Secretary who advised Citigroup Inc. as it lost $20 billion in the subprime mortgage crisis, resigned his position as senior counselor and won’t stand for re-election to the board.

Rubin, 70, intends to “deepen his involvement in outside activities and organizations to which he has been strongly committed,” the New York-based bank said today in a statement.

“Since joining Citi nearly 10 years ago, Bob has made invaluable contributions to the company,” Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said in the statement.

Rubin, who served at the Treasury’s helm from 1995 to 1999 under President Bill Clinton, has faced criticism from investors including Smith Asset Management’s William Smithfor collecting more than $150 million in pay in a decade while failing to steer Citigroup away from subprime mortgage securities. The investments led to four straight quarterly losses and prompted the bank to turn to the government for a rescue package.

Citigroup, the biggest bank recipient of U.S. bailout funds, completed an agreement for a $20 billion government investment, on top of an earlier $25 billion injection and a U.S. guarantee on $306 billion in troubled assets.

Pandit, 51, is cutting 52,000 jobs worldwide and expects “major challenges” to continue into 2009, he said Dec. 31.

Citigroup’s 77 percent decline in New York Stock Exchange trading in 2008 made the stock the worst performer in the 24- company KBW Bank Index for the second year in a row. Today the shares fell 41 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $6.75 as of 3:26 p.m.

Comments

[marlene and dave]

best thing is to hit assklowns like this in their egos. hurts them as much as their wallets but also will educate a few people out there. eventually the usa needs to smarten up. and turn off the idiotic talent shows on tv.

[A C Shareholder]

$11 big ones a year for 10 years and one of the key people in introducing more risk into this company. I am not shedding any tears for his departure voted against him and the rest of the board last year.