The Citi Never Sleeps?

When I was growing up in the NY Metro area we were constantly bombarded with the jingle, "the Citi never sleeps, Citibank." Well guess who got a rude wake-up call yesterday!

This household has some very close personal ties to Wachovia, which may seem odd since Wachovia is such a new-comer to California. Needless to say, there was a whole lot of praying in this household last weekend. When we received the announcement (soon after one of the three times Zap had to get up for work at 5:30 a.m. this week) we were bummed because Citi doesn't have the best reputation for community relations leadership in CA, but we have ties there & felt satisfied that we'd be all right.

Then, all of a sudden on Thursday night, Zap just couldn't sleep. He tossed & turned for a long time & then got up to surf the web & try to quiet his mind. Nothing spectacular happened on Thursday, but for some reason that night he just couldn't rest. On Friday morning (the second time Zap had to get up for work at 5:30 this week -- so that's right, this a.m. he had to get up at 5:30 for work and yes, it's Saturday) he learned that Wells Fargo made a competing bid (against a closed deal) & Wachovia was up for grabs. So while he was inexplicably restless, Wachovia was switching suitors. Coincidence? We think not.

Overall we're much happier with the prospect of the Wells merger. They're California-based and have a long, successfuly community relations track record. And believe you me, that goes a long way in this household. According to this morning's LA Times, Citi doesn't have a case if Wells & Wachovia didn't talk before Wells submitted its larger bid. The word on the street is Wells came up with its larger offer after it had the time to review Wachovia's entire portfolio, with which it was presented in the heat of the moment last weekend. So the chances are looking pretty good that Wells & Wachovia didn't communicate.



Zap thinks he'll look good in a cowboy hat. I tend to agree.