Citigroup May Slash 24,000 Jobs; Its Stock Has Lost 92 Percent Since January 2007

by Pam Martens and Russ Martens Wall Street on Parade

On the first day of trading in January 2007 (the year prior to the Wall Street financial crisis in 2008 that saw century-old iconic financial firms explode one after another), Citigroup closed the trading day at $55.25. Yesterday, Citigroup’s common stock closed at an effective share price of $4.20.

Citigroup did a 1-for-10 reverse stock split on May 9, 2011. That means that investors holding 100 shares of Citigroup back in January 2007 saw their position shrink to 10 shares after May 9, 2011. So yesterday’s closing price of $42.04 for Citigroup is effectively $4.20 for long-term shareholders, adjusting it for the reverse stock split.

To put that in even starker terms, investors who have held onto this dog for almost 17 years have watched 92 percent of its share price vanish.