Sandy Weill and Citigroup

When the merger took place, Weill introduced employee stock options in Citigroup at all levels. The work culture of the two companies was also very different. Travelers had an aggressive, fast, deal-making culture. On the other hand, Citicorp had a conservative culture built around long-term customer relationships. Travelers' fast moving staff activated Citicorp's bureaucratic culture. Travelers' staff also brought their aggressive sales culture to Citigroup. Citicorp's consumer business had rich and affluent clients and its corporate business had several Fortune 500 companies as their clients whereas Travelers had clients in the medium range. Weill realised the potential of middle and lower class consumers as a growing segment and started concentrating on this segment...

Amex bought Investors Diversified Services (IDS), a Minneapolis-based firm that sold mutual funds and insurance products door-to-door. But Weill had a tough time haggling with the board over the price to be paid for the acquisition. Weill worked hard for about a year to turnaround Fireman's Fund, Amex's insurance subsidiary. But subsequently, the Amex board decided to sell the subsidiary despite the turnaround. Some analysts believed that when Weill realized that Robinson had no plans of leaving Amex and there was no way he could lead Amex in conjunction with Robinson, he was frustrated and put in his resignation in 1985. Weill failed to gain power at Amex, but he didn't want to fail once again. When he acquired Primerica and Travelers, he made sure that he would be heading the companies...