Last November, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal spent £160million on a brand spanking new monster Airbus A380. Now he's spending another £90m to remodel his new 600 passenger sized toy with all sorts of amenities, including a missile system. He'll have his flying palace in around two year's time:
Inside he is building a lounge to seat a
travelling entourage of 25 trusted aides.
He has ordered a dining room, seating 14 and panelled in marble, to be
constructed next to a bar with curtains to mimic tents of the Arabian desert and
a fibre-optic mosaic that will depict a shifting desert scene.
Where economy class usually begins the prince has ordered a whirlpool bath and
sauna to be constructed.
Continue reading "“Lawrence of Arabia meets Star Wars”: Prince Alwaleed spending another £90m to pimp out his new £160m Airbus A380" »
Yes, they're cutting their dividend, from .54 to .32. And they're getting a bunch of cash in exchange for privately issued convertible preferred stock -- $12.5 billion in total -- over half of it from Singapore's sovereign wealth fund -- and others including Capital Research Global Investors, the Kuwait Investment Authority, the New Jersey Division of Investment, Prince Alwaleed, and.....Sandy Weill and the Weill Family Foundation. They're also issuing $2 billion of convertible preferred in a public offering and an additional offering of nonconvertible preferred...
Continue reading "Citigroup announces money raising --- from sovereign wealth funds, Prince Alwaleed, other investment groups and....Sandy Weill; and they're cutting the dividend" »
Yesterday we noted the Page Six report of former Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince's lunchtime Four Seasons outing with the boys (former Bear CEO Ace Greenberg and Blackstone founder Pete Peterson). Prince worked the room greeting the many luminaries present, but noticeably avoided one of them -- his Citigroup predecessor, Sandy Weill. Now we have a better understanding about why the frostiness, and it's front page news in the Wall Street Journal in a story chronicling Chuck Prince's downfall.
For years, Mr. Weill had refrained from
speaking ill of his hand-picked successor. Yet the former Wall Street titan,
obsessed with holding down costs when he was in charge, steamed as Citigroup's
expenses and employee counts surged. Known for his loyal lieutenants, he was
dismayed as his top executives, including his president Robert Willumstad, fled
the financial giant. Known for a healthy ego, Mr. Weill even bit his tongue as
Mr. Prince repeatedly blamed his slow start on dealing with overhanging
regulatory issues and investigations.
"Sandy was uncharacteristically quiet through all the turmoil," says
one former Citigroup executive. "He wanted to stay loyal to Chuck. Of
course bad-mouthing Chuck would amount to admitting Sandy had made a mistake by
anointing him."
On Oct. 15, when Citigroup officially
announced larger-than-expected third-quarter losses, Mr. Weill was beside
himself. He complained about the growth of the balance sheet and expense
structure, two of his hallmarks of financial discipline. As for the low stock
prices, he said, people were "voting with their pocketbook."
Continue reading "Citigroup: No wonder Chuck Prince publicly dissed Sandy Weill at lunch; "Meddling" and a visit to Riyadh" »
The Daily Telegraph has an interesting profile of Citi's largest shareholder, Prince AlWaleed bin Talal -- also known as the Saudi Warren Buffet -- who's down some $4 billion on his shares this year. The piece describes some of his other investments as well as the opulence of his Kingdom Holdings headquarters, complete with "the most stunningly attractive women in the world" all "carrying clipboards".....
Shares in the Wall Street behemoth have
fallen 32 per cent – and that means a collossal loss if you're the single
biggest stakeholder. The Saudi prince is licking his wounds, writes Helen Power
He is a bedouin leader who still holds court to thousands of followers at his
desert camp. And his hobbies include travelling the world in a custom Boeing 777
jet and taking the yacht to Cannes for the summer. You simply couldn't make this
stuff up.
He is also the single biggest shareholder in Citigroup, the bank in the eye of
the sub-prime storm. Like other shareholders in Citi, he has seen his investment
lose 32 per cent of its value this year – but in AlWaleed's case that accounts
for a whopping $4bn. The prince has not been afraid to throw his weight around
at the bank in the past and will no doubt make his next trip on the corporate
jet a visit to New York to make his presence felt with the bank's remaining
board members.
Continue reading "Citi's other Prince: The company's largest shareholder has taken a $4 billion hit this year" »
Holding 4.3% of its stock, Citigroup's largest shareholder, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is clearly not a happy camper and is running out of patience. Interviewed by Reuters, he commented on Citigroup's Monday earnings release which missed analyst forecasts: "The results are positive but they (Citigroup) are not able to get the costs under control ... We have to take draconian, and I say draconian, measures to control the costs"....
Continue reading "Prince Alwaleed is getting impatient with Citigroup: "enough is enough"" »
