Vikram Pandit named Citigroup CEO

Tue December 11, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup named Vikram Pandit, the head of its investment banking business, as chief executive Tuesday, after searching five weeks for someone to restore the bank's profitability and reputation.

The banking company named Sir Win Bischoff, who has been Citi's acting CEO, as its chairman. He replaces Robert E. Rubin, who had stepped into the role when former CEO and chairman Charles Prince was ousted last month.

Pandit, 50, ran a hedge fund bought by Citi earlier this year, is seen as a careful, decisive investment banker -- qualities Citi needs following the revelation that Citi's writedowns of soured mortgages could amount to as much as $17.5 billion by the end of the year. The appointments came after a two-day meeting of Citi's board.

Pandit is well known on Wall Street. He worked at Morgan Stanley for two decades until 2005, when he and a few other disgruntled colleagues left the brokerage and founded the hedge fund Old Lane Partners.

Earlier this year, Citigroup bought Old Lane for $800 million and put Pandit in charge of Citi's alternative investments. A few months later, Pandit took over the bank's markets and banking unit, too, and then reconfigured the business to mirror the Morgan Stanley structure he was familiar with.

His performance as Citi's leader will undoubtedly be scrutinized by investors until they see positive results -- including his willingness to challenge the Citi strategy of the past several years. One question on Wall Street is whether Pandit will be beholden to the Citi board, which has remained steadfastly loyal to the Sanford Weill regime.

During a conference call with analysts, Pandit suggested he was open to selling certain units, as long as the sales were beneficial to the company.

"I will undertake an objective and dispassionate review of all the businesses, individually and in aggregate, to make sure we are properly positioned for the future," Pandit said.

PRESS RELEASE

John A. Thain Named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merrill Lynch

NEW YORK--

(BUSINESS WIRE)--

November 14, 2007-

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., (NYSE: MER) today announced that John A. Thain, Chief Executive Officer, Director and Member of Management Committee of NYSE Euronext, Inc. and former President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs Group, has been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merrill Lynch effective December 1, 2007.

Mr. Thain, 52, joined the NYSE on January 15, 2004, serving as Chief Executive Officer and a Director. Prior to joining the NYSE, he served as president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. since July 2003 and was previously president and co-chief operating officer from May 1999 through June 2003; he had been a director since 1998.

Mr. Thain received an MBA from Harvard University in 1979

and a B.S. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977.

He was president and co-chief operating officer of The Goldman Sachs Group, L.P. in 1999. From 1994 to 1999, he served as chief financial officer and head of operations, technology and finance. From 1995 to 1997, he was also co-chief executive officer for European operations.

Mr. Thain is a member of The MIT Corporation, the Dean's Advisory Council - MIT/Sloan School of Management, INSEAD - U.S. National Advisory Board, the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's International Capital Markets Advisory Committee.

He is also a member of the Board of Managers of The New York Botanical Garden, a member of the Board of Directors of the French-American Foundation, a trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a General Trustee of Howard University.