The Citigroup Rollercoaster

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No single company embodies the financial rollercoaster ride during the 2007-2009 recession more so than Citigroup.

Citigroup shares topped $55 in May of 2007, yet investors were already clamoring about the financial supermarket becoming too unwieldy. When panic settled into the stock market in October 2007, Citigroup had already dropped to $48/share. Over the next 5 months, Citi would plunge towards $20/share as the housing and credit crisis began to unfold. When Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008, the bottom dropped out for Citigroup, falling under $1/share by March 2009.

During the freefall, Citigroup sold major assets left and right. Smith Barney was spun off to Morgan Stanley on January 13th for $2.7 billion while retaining a 49% controlling interest. Citi also completed its sale of Nikko Cordial in May of 2009 to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

After several bailout injections from Treasury (totaling $45 billion), Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit announced in early march that the super bank would be profitable for the first quarter. After which, Citi shares rebounded sharply back towards $4/share.