Citi posts loss, splits up the company

[January 16, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup says it is splitting up into two businesses as it sustains its fifth straight quarterly loss.

One business, Citicorp, will do traditional banking, and the other, Citi Holdings, will hold the company's riskier assets.

The bank's move reveals its growing focus on back-to-basics lending and deposit-gathering, and dismantles the "financial supermarket" created a decade ago.

The New York-based bank posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $8.29 billion, or $1.72 per share. Analysts expected a loss of $1.31 per share.

The government has lent Citigroup $45 billion, and agreed to backstop losses on some $300 billion in mortgages and other assets.

[Associated Press; By MADLEN READ]

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