Comments on: Citigroup: Not Earning Its Way Out of Bailouts

By: Dividend Farmer

Dividend Farmer — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:44:23 +0000

Well if the information from the “closed door” conference call (?) is correct – i.e. that Citi plans to sell the rest of its Smith Barney stake – they should be able to easily pay back the 20 billion. Towhit:

- 7 billion from remainder of Smith Barney
- 1.5 billion from Bellsystem24
- ? billion Primerica
- ? billion Nikko Asset Management
… etc. etc.

Citi has already been able to raise billions in debt so bond issue or an equity for debt swap to find 5-10 billion to pay back the TARP is feasible even in the short term. And if some of the credit charges they took (much mre generous than GS JPM WFC here) do start to come back positive on the balance sheet umm well there will be profit.

Also remember, in the spring of 2008 Citi began to sell off $400 billion in assets from their $2 trillion. They were interrupted by the plunge in markets and credit problems and the recession and those assets will fetch more and “toxic” debt will seem more clean as time goes by.

Of course yes, it’s true, the world could end. But talking about Citigroup along with “victims” Lehman Bros. and GM the way the media has been doing is not really accurate. But then again … the media is dying too, right?

By: paulie

paulie — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:11:58 +0000

A.Ron very well said.

By: knife

knife — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:09:56 +0000

Yepp, some bigshots pay for stories like this to bring the prices down. Do like them, and buy low!

By: The real deal

The real deal — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:37:13 +0000

Well said A.Ron could not have said it better myself. I really hate media with these false reports they keep telling things that aren´t true. Please for once give a report based on facts not just keep throwing rumours and scaring the public…..

By: A. Ron

A. Ron — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:19:37 +0000

Does anyone in the media know how to write a positive article about Citigroup? Anyone?

How about those pesky things called “facts”? Anyone know what those are?

Citigroup, after conversion, owes the government $20 billion. It WAS $45 billion, now the government has 7.7 billion shares, and it can do whatever it wants with them.

More than half of the TARP bailout has been paid back.

And Citigroup hasn’t said anything about earning it’s way out because they’re hoping Q3 results will show that. It’s only a month away. A favorite trick by the media, I’m sure.