No Value Added in Citi Shake-Up

I'm not a fan of this Citigroup shake-up. The ousted Thomas Maheras might have sat uncomfortably in his co-head role at the investment bank with Michael Klein (co-heads nearly always sit uncomfortably), but he was – is – a very good banker and a real money-maker for Citi. Meanwhile, Vikram Pandit – who isn't overrated just because no one really rates him – gets a grand new job overseeing, as far as I can tell, two people: Klein, at the investment bank, and John Havens, who will run alternative investments. It's not clear what value he adds by peering over these executives' shoulders and second-guessing their decisions.

Meanwhile, Chuck Prince is sounding more and more like Joe Torre every day:

“My job is to try to assess the situation and constantly reassess the best people we have got,” he told The times. “We have gone through a review of people in this business, and this is my view of the best lineup. My job is to put the best players on the field.”

The problem, of course, is that in elevating Pandit, Torre has lost Maheras:

Citigroup executives, nonetheless, did not want him to leave. But Mr. Maheras did not want to report to Mr. Pandit, according to people briefed on the changes.

This is not a good trade, although it's good that the squabbling between Maheras and Klein has now come to an end. What's for sure is that there's still no viable candidate to replace Prince as CEO: if Pandit got the job, the stock would tank. Bob Rubin reckons that Prince will stay on for years yet; that's probably true, if only for lack of a successor.