Banker’s Abrupt Exit Mystery

Page 6 of the New York Post:

FINANCIAL giant Citigroup was strangely mum last night on why Todd Thomson, its 45-year-old fair-haired head of wealth management, left the firm suddenly in a management shakeup yesterday. Sources close to the Wall Street giant say Thomson got on the bad side of CEO Chuck Prince by shuttling personal friends – including CNBC’s anchor and “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo – around the world on the company’s corporate jet.
Sources said that Thomson, whose unit was a financial success story inside the firm, had been warned about his high-flying ways – but that the tipping point came when Bartiromo joined him on the Citi corporate jet between New York and Beijing last year.
A CNBC spokesman later said: “Maria sought and received approval in advance to fly to Asia on Citi’s jet. Billing was handled between CNBC’s corporate parent and Citi.”
Bartiromo, reached via e-mail in Davos, Switzerland, said any connection to Thomson’s departure was “flat-out wrong.”
Thomson, who the firm said left to “pursue other interests,” couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday. Not long ago, he was considered among the front-runners to succeed Prince and was even moved into his current job to be groomed for a run at the CEO post.
Citi has been hypersensitive to any appearances of impropriety ever since its legendary former chief, Sandy Weill, and star analyst Jack Grubman allegedly swapped a positive rating on AT&T stock to get Grubman’s kids into the prestigious 92nd Street Y preschool – one of several legal issues that cost the bank well over $5 billion in fines and court settlements.
And this isn’t the first time a Citigroup jet played a part in corporate embarrassment. Some 15 years ago, then-Chairman John Reed fell in love with a flight attendant on one of the company’s jets.
The joke at the time around Wall Street circles was that when Citi’s jets prepared for landing, passengers were advised: “Please buckle your seat belt, stow your tray table, and put your stewardess in an upright position.”

Posted by on January 23rd, 2007 at 10:44 am


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