Friday, May 9, 2008

Opening Bell: 9.5.08

Citigroup considers $400bn asset sale (FT) Citigroup plans to sell 1/5th of its assets, or $400bn worth of goods, as part of a major cost cutting initiative, according to FT. Evidently, the company feels it has "legacy" lines that need to be flensed. I love the use of the word legacy to basically rationalize any flailing operations. Something not doing well? Oh, it's a legacy business, might as well strip it out of your models. All that being said, don't expect CEO Vikram Pandit to announce a breakup of the business --- just a $400 billion sale, that's all.

AIG forced to raise $12.5bn after record quarterly loss

The crisis at American International Group deepened yesterday after $15bn in credit-related writedowns plunged the US insurer into a record quarterly loss, and prompted it to raise $12.5bn to bolster its weakened balance sheet.

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