Dick Parsons To Become Citigroup Chair

NEW YORK — Citigroup Inc. said Wednesday that board member Richard Parsons _ the former CEO of Time Warner _ will be taking over as chairman.

Parsons succeeds Win Bischoff, who became chairman in December 2007 after the company let go of its embattled CEO and chairman at the time, Charles Prince. The move is effective Feb. 23.

Bischoff is not putting himself up for re-election at the board's annual meeting this spring, and will retire later this year, Citigroup said.

The ailing bank has suffered five straight quarters of losses and received $45 billion in government aid as it struggles to stay afloat amid the credit crisis. Last week, the company said it would reorganize into two units as it reported a fourth-quarter loss of $8.29 billion.

Citigroup's board has been the target of much scrutiny among investors for allowing the bank to invest so heavily in the risky housing market.

As that criticism escalated over the past several weeks, so did speculation that Parsons _ one of the only directors with experience in both banking and leading a large company _ would become chairman.

Before helping negotiate Time Warner's merger with America Online in 2000 and serving as the new company's CEO and chairman, Parsons was chief executive and chairman of Dime Bancorp, a thrift bank, in the early 1990s.

Parsons was also an economic adviser on President Barack Obama's transition team.

Citigroup said separately in a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that top three executives _ including Bischoff _ have passed up bonuses. Bischoff, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden have declined incentive and retention awards that were offered to members of the bank's executive committee, Citi said.

Long-time board member Robert Rubin, a former U.S. Treasury Secretary, said earlier this month that he, too, would be retiring from Citigroup.

Citigroup shares rose 87 cents, or 31 percent, to $3.67 on Wednesday, before the announcement was made. In after-hours trading, shares were flat. The stock reached a 17-year low on Tuesday.

Comments

[Fremon]

Don't these people ever learn. Wrong guy for any CEO job. He ruined Time Warner with the aquisition of AOL. Geez, how do they come up with this. He was part of Citi during it's slide and did he do anything to stem that tide?

[Judith Holtzman]

Great-- I definitely see "change and hope" for the future...T­here is absolutely no conflict of interest within the exciting "new" presidential administration. Talk about placing a mask on the old establishment and calling for "change" in the US. I dont think that change will arrive in the US as long as politics and business are directly intertwined.

[iceage7]

I think he was put there coz he is an economic adviser to President Obama thus probably easier for him to get more TARP money. You betcha

[zenandpeace]

You are mistaken. Parsons is not an economic advisor to Obama. Parsons is a staunch Republican.

[cyoohoos]

Until the rich/wealthy businessmen go broke, they are all Republicans. I believe he got this job on the worst type of affirmative action. I hope Obama doesn't take the bait.

[dredie]

Dick Parsons was president of Time Warner when the merger with AOL happened. The real driver behind the decision was Gerald Levin who was CEO and Chairman. Dick Parsons inherited the mess and successfully stabilized the company. Time Warner is not in any worse mess that any other media company that is dependent on slumping advertising spending.

[zenandpeace]

There wouldn't have been a mess if AOL and Time Warner hadn't merged in the first place. People forget that it was AOL that bought Time Warner; not the other way around. Yes, AOL's stock may have been overrated, but to merge technology with traditional media was a huge mistake. Parsons was still in the executive ranks when the merger took place and thus many of us hold him, along with Case and Levin, responsible for the demise of AOL.

Hope he can do something wonderful at Citigroup, but I'm not holding my breath.

[sidehide]

please don't live up to your name

[PeterTheChanter]

you don't want him to be a Parson?

[AlligatorShuz]

His legal name is Richard Parsons. And everybody that knows him calls him Richard.

[bikerdude]

This is a big mistake in my book. His guidance at TW left a LOT to be desired

[neenj]

my thoughts exactly. He accomplished nothing (IMO) at Time Warner/AOL that justifies him now head of Citigroup. but we shall see....

I am just glad that he's not going to be a part of the Obama administration. I got kinda nervous when I found out a couple months ago that he was some sort of adviser.

[Opt1musPr1me]

You are both unfair in your judgment. Dick Parsons did what he was hired to do at time warner and that was bring the huge debt down. under him Time Warner saw some of it's best quarterly results. The only thing Parsons failed to do at the company was spin off AOL and Time Inc which would have probably spiked the stock. He also should have let then CFO Wayne Pace go when that hooker scandal broke, but he kept him on until he handed the CEO title to Jeff Bewkes. I think the media and even Wall Street holds these CEOs to such unrealistic expectations, it gets in their way of reality. Any CEO can make all the drastic moves Wall Streeters so love to talk about. But at the end of the day, if investors don't bite, they just don't bite and therefore the stock will remain stunted. Parsons is known as a manager who squeezes out results, and keep in mind that he was the President of Dime bank before being tapped by then Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin to be Time Warner's President. He was tapped because of his success running Dime. Parsons will be good for Citi. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point he becomes CEO. God knows that after Sandy Weil left, that place hasn't had any good management. Parsons is a finance guy not a media guy.

[NotBeatenYet]

Just hope he won't do what he did to Time Warner.

[UnknownSoldier]

He wasn't the CEO of Time Warner during the merger with AOL, just because a reporter slants his article one way doesn't make it true or false. Parsons was tapped as CEO to help fix the problems with the merger.

[zenandpeace]

Excuse me, but as a former employee of AOL and then AOL Time Warner, I can tell you that AOL was a great company before Time Warner came on the scene. It was only after Time Warner forced out all of the AOL employees from the board that the company went into the crapper. If Steve Case was still running AOL and not Parsons and now Bewkes, AOL would have been able to survive on its own.

Parsons and Levin ruined AOL. Remember, Parsons took over after Case and Levin were forced out and undid everything that had transpired from the merger. AOL is but a shell of what it used to be. Falco and Grant are the death knell to the company and are just patsies for Parsons and now Bewkes. Parsons is STILL on the board of Time Warner. http://www.timewarner.com/corp/corp_governance/board_directors/index.html

If you weren't there, you have no right to talk about what went on!

[Opt1musPr1me]

And i think he did a good job bringing down the massive dept. Some of us are forgetting that Parsons is a finance guy. he was the CEO of Dime Bancorp when he was tapped by then Time Warner CEO Geri Levin to be TW's President. The only thing Parsons failed to do at TW was sell or spin off AOL and spin off Time Inc. I think he will be good for Citi. I also wouldn't be surprised if Parsons eventually becomes CEO. God knows that place hasn't had any firm and steady management since Sandy Weil left.

[stell]

This ship has already sunk, this is reminiscent of Willingham to Notre Dame, or Jindal to Louisiana, Michelle Rhee to D.C., non-whites play the position of a high-level janitor.

[YouDisgustMe]

hmm...inte­resting point

[robXdion]

It's common practice in business and sports to turn a failing enterprise over to a minority so when the inevitable failure happens they can receive all the blame. It's a trend. And stell forgot to mention Dungy in Tampa Bay, E. Stanley O'Neal at Merrill Lynch and several others.

[kankankan]

I have a friend that always says that, the Black guy is only allowed in when everything is so messy no whites want to be stuck with it...ala Barack inheriting a trashed economy

[MyNameIsJames]

I wholeheartedly agree with your friend's assessment. When things lose value, then Whites who have lost hope are willing to be "generous" by allowing African Americans to take over the helm of their sinking ships.

Gee thanks -Guys! By the way -- why are you all heading to the lifeboats?

[ExRepublican]

bingo

[jeffp26]

Excuse me, but Dick Parsons presided over one of the largest wastes ever of corporate assets: the purchase by a viable company, time warner, of a joke, aol.

And so he will be perfect as the next clown to try to destroy citi.

[toppergem]

I wish we could stop calling America racist...b­ut the comments on this board suggest that racism is alive and doing well in America.

[YouDisgustMe]

agreed

[cyoohoos]

I'm black and this is NOT racist. He left AOL-Time Warner a complete mess. It's not racist if it's true.

[drymartini1]

all you guys are a bunch of racists !!! we have a black prez and now a black ceo of a big bank. and you guys are jealous. !!

I just want people to stop claiming now that USA is a racist country. we have a black prez, a black ex secy of state, natl. sec. advisor, now big ceo's.

now maybe its time to roll back on affirmative action. clearly blacks can compete without favoritism !!

[robXdion]

Affirmative action was created because whites had cornered the market on favoritism. And blacks aren't the biggest beneficiaries of the policy. White women are. Funny how that always gets left out when people want to lay a charge on blacks as if their very existence consists of handouts.

[stell]

Rob, how do you get passed the gatekeepers all of the time? You seem to always get one past the goalie, and you speak the truth the best you know how as far as I'm concerned.

[YouDisgustMe]

well said rob

[Bitsko]

You really should go out and meet more people.

[Fremon]

Not really. When a "white" is born in this country, he has to prove by lack of intelligence, capability, and education that he doesn't deserve more from the society. When a "black" is born he had to prove that he has these traits to get more from the society. In this subtle difference lies the roots of racism. One has to "disprove" and the other has to "prove".

[bikerdude]

Clearly the wrong man for the job. The stockholders should revolt!

[HamletsMill]

Parsons better start boning up on the Austrian School of Economics. Because if Citibank is still an incompetently run frozen frankenbank a year from now, it should be broken into pieces by Federal Law. The Hawaiian School of Advanced Pono Economics is going to kick in big time. Keynsian Economics for the individual. Austrian School Economics for the organizational perpetrators in the financial markets of the world of this financially criminal behavior with derivatives that created the Casino Economy. Many will eventually spiritually hang with their reputations completely destroyed in world history. Parsons had better start learning about the Hawaiian School Pono Economics very, very fast. It is the new synthesis theory of markets. And if it is correct, Citibank will be a mine canary on the world stage withing 12-18 months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pono

[mrcontinental]

Remember that old TV show "It takes a thief"?

This is a classic example of life imitating art.

[Bitsko]

Robert Wagner and Fred Astaire.