Pandit Formally Speaks Out and Clears the Air... Truth or Dare?

Vikram Pandit has already come out and told the Wall Street Journal that the decision to leave Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) was his decision alone. Now we have CNBC’s Maria Bartoromo speaking with him, and Pandit told her that the decision was his decision and that he called Chairman Mike O’Neill after the earnings call to step down. Pandit told Bartoromo that the company is in great shape and can run forward under the new CEO plan. Pandit also claimed that this was just the time and was not about compensation. Pandit also said that the company is in good shape and suggested that there are no blow-ups on the horizon.

Mario Bartoromo said that she believes that this decision was tied to compensation in the current unfavorable environment.

Whether or not this big decision was truly up to Mr. Pandit is something we will leave up to you despite the timing of the announcement. We gave ten very likely reasons why he would have left earlier this morning. It appears that there is a lot of overlap now and that there was not just one issue.

Citigroup shares are up 1.5% at $37.23 on the day and we have already seen 101 million shares trade on the day with three hours until the market closes. Yesterday was the earnings report and we saw “only” 76 million shares trade on that day. We have not seen 100 million shares trade in a single day since the 113.6 million shares traded back on March 8, 2012.

JON C. OGG