It looks like the chairman of the board at Citigroup (NYSE: C) is about to lose his position. It is a shame. He was doing such a good job. The bank's stock yesterday fell below $10 for the first time in over a decade.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "The board of Citigroup Inc. is growing increasingly dissatisfied with the financial giant's performance, and some directors are considering replacing Sir Win Bischoff as chairman." The lead candidate to take the job is former Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) chief Richard Parsons.
While the board-level change is not a sure thing, the revolt among directors seems to be aimed in the wrong direction. Vikram Pandit, who was made CEO a year ago, has effectively ruined any turnaround at the company by being slow to sell-off under-performing assets and cut expenses. The bank's shares performance has trailed that of every one of its peers.
Citi is like most large companies. The non-executive chairman has very little to do with running the company day-to-day. Firing a big company CEO after only twelve months on the jobs is unusual, but Citi's performance is so dismal that dumping the real culprit, Pandit, is a better idea than attacking the problem at the board level.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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