In the wake of Saturday’s NYT story that Vikram
Pandit looks set to take over Citigroup, a bit of color is emerging: essentially
that he’s the best man for the job only insofar as he’s the only person willing
to take it. Bloomberg’s reporting that Deutsche Bank’s Josef Ackerman turned
down the opportunity, while the FT has a
long list of other candidates who have ruled themselves out, including Dick
Kovacevich of Wells Fargo, Fred Goodwin of RBS, Jay Fishman of Travelers, and
even Hank Paulson. They didn’t bother mentioning Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan.
And who does buy-side giant Bill
Miller think should pilot this supertanker?
"I would like someone to run Citi like the way that [Mark] Hurd saw
HP – someone to come in and simplify the processes. That’s key. Someone who
would approach Citi that way would be great," he said. "Citi doesn’t
need a major strategic overhaul."
It’s a nice dream, but nice dreams tend not to make for successful stock picks.
Citigroup simply isn’t amenable to simplification. It was a mess under Prince,
and it will be a mess under his successor. Maybe what’s really needed is someone
who’s proved himself capable of running something sprawling and messy. How about
Silvio Berlusconi?