Short-term success has caused many to forget this. But it is blinding insiders and outsiders alike to the problems that are developing. An unhappy future Consider this projection. Within five years Citigroup will have to be broken up. Weill will have had to continue his acquire-and-cut-costs strategy to keep earnings up, all the while causing more cultural problems and increasing bureaucracy. Investors hoping for a banking play will be increasingly irritated at the volatile returns from the investment bank and the low returns from insurance underwriting. |
