FOX Business Network (FBN) Senior Correspondent Charlie Gasparino reports that former Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) CEO Vikram Pandit’s job has “been in jeopardy for months now,” and that the resignation was spearheaded by “an uprising on the board led by” Michael O’Neill and Diana Taylor over the $5 billion Smith-Barney write-down that “occurred two months ago.” Yesterday, we reported that Pandit did not resign, but was forced out.
Video and excerpts below:
Watch the latest video at <a href=”http://video.foxbusiness.com”>video.foxbusiness.com</a>On Vikram Pandit’s job at Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) being in jeopardy for months now:
“Basically, this was an uprising on the board led by O’Neill. Who then went out and convinced Diana Taylor… who’s on the board she was the former bank commissioner of New York State. And those two principally led the effort to get rid of him. What we understand is that Pandit’s job, essentially been in jeopardy for months now because of that. The last straw, it is the Smith-Barney issue, now remember they were selling Smith-Barney in chunks to Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS).
They kept it on its books at a certain level. An independent auditor said they kept it at five billion dollars too much. They had to write down that amount of money that occurred about two months ago. Once that happened, his fate was sealed. His goose was cooked. He was done, it was just a matter of time and this came after other issues. Remember they said they passed their stress test, they didn’t. Lots of things which made one board member told the FOX Business Network – made him believe that Pandit is a smart guy, but a bad CEO and it just came down to that.”
