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Parsons in; Bischoff out as Citi chairman

As I posted last week, Richard Parsons former chairman of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), BloggingStocks' parent, will soon be chairman of Citigroup (NYSE: C). This means that Win Bischoff, who has been Citi's chair for the last year or so, is going to find greener pastures. It also means that changes are afoot at Citi.

Parsons has been the Citi board's lead director and chairman of its nomination and governance committee. Effective February 23 he will take over as the chairman of Citi's board. Bischoff, who has been with Citi as a banker since 2000, will not stand for reelection to the board.

Regulators are looking to put some spine into Citi's board. Parsons, whose mission will be to get new board members who bring "strong, proven business judgment and financial and banking sector expertise" is likely to witness the departure of former AT&T (NYSE: T) chairman, C. Michael Armstrong. Armstrong seems to have missed some of Citi's financial cancer as head of the board's risk and audit committee between 2004 and 2008.

Parsons move can't hurt, but it feels like the cows got out of the barn two years ago. I hope he can help boost the stock.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and is the author of You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing. He owns Citi shares and has no financial interest in the other securities mentioned.

Firing Citigroup's chairman is the wrong move

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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IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+132.7910,450.95
NASDAQ0.002,176.01
S&P 5000.001,106.24

Last updated: November 24, 2009: 09:33 AM

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