Disclosure: I own no shares of Citigroup

Posted by Marc Hodak on November 25, 2008 under Revealed preference | Read the First Comment

The reason for this is best expressed by my reaction when I saw the headline this weekend about separating the company into a “good bank” and “bad bank.” My first thought was, “how would one would be able to tell the difference?”

But if I were a direct Citi shareholder, I would right now be far more concerned with getting the right people in place, even if they cost a few million more, than about trying to get or keep discount executives, as our political class is insisting upon. The difference between the best and next best in leadership could easily be worth tens of billions of dollars in value enhancement of the bank’s assets. Why would I risk that over a few million in incentive compensation? Of course, silly me, I believe that sometimes you get what you pay for, and that incentives matter.

Also, I won’t invest in a bunch of insomniacs:

In similar news, AIG announced today that they will freeze salaries for their top seven executives and reduce the salary of their CEO, Edward Liddy, to $1. According to Cuomo logic, the shareholders should be ecstatic:

“We believe these actions demonstrate that we are focused on overcoming our financial challenges so AIG can return value to taxpayers and shareholders,” Mr. Liddy said in a statement…

Mr. Cuomo applauded AIG’s decision to limit executive pay, and said other companies receiving federal bailout money should follow suit…

AIG shares fell 4 cents, or 2.5%, to $1.73 in afternoon trading.

During which time the overall market increased by about 2.5%. Hmm.