Paulson Adds Citi to B of A, Goldman, and JPMorgan Holdings (C, BAC, COF, GS, JPM)

Paulson & Co. Inc. has become a very influential firm that can now move a market after John Paulson made billions from properly betting against the fate of the US financial and banking sector before the malaise started to create the wrecking ball of empires last year and earlier this year.  Now a report starting in the New York Post has John Paulson amassing a stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).  His prior filing had him as a huge stakeholder in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) and other somewhat large stakes in Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM).

The report lists the size of the Citi stake as being roughly 2%, although it has yet to be confirmed.  As long as a stake of 5% is not taken, we might not get confirmation that Paulson is a holder until after the end of the quarter.  A 2% stake would not require an SEC filing to show that stake being taken.

Citigroup shares are up over 2% at $4.73 in pre-market trading on almost 30 million shares of stock.  Citi shares have been having a hard time as they approach $5.00.  They were under $4.00 on August 12 and were even under $3.00 just on July 28.

JON C. OGG
August 27, 2009