The news for Citigroup this week seems to have gone from bad to worse. Monday it announced it would cut 53,000 jobs, including several thousand in Florida, though it didn’t offer many specifics as to where those layoffs will occur.
Now comes word Friday that Citi may sell off part or all of its operations, causing even more trepidation in an already frightening economy. That kind of news most definitely impacts the Sunshine State, where Citi has substantial operations in Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Beyond layoffs, Citi’s changes have the potential to impact Florida office vacancy even more than usual. It has more than 662,000 square feet in the Tampa market alone, which started out years ago as owner-occupied space but more recently went through a sale-leaseback, meaning whatever opens up there will be counted in an already growing pool of vacancy.
Florida office markets have overcome financial fallout before—the buyout of Barnett Bank a decade ago, for instance—but this blow seems a lot larger to overcome. Things might be worse if Citi hadn’t backed off its takeover bid for Wachovia last month, given the latter bank’s larger exposure here.
Any guesses out there as to what happens next?
(UPDATE: Feds approve bailout of Citi; see GlobeSt.com for more details.)
The fact that Citi is on the ropes now makes their half-assed bid for Wachovia last month (and the harrumphing and tantruming “….we’ll sue!…? after BoA won the deal)astounding.
If Citi won Wachovia, what on earth would have happened next? Could they have fore-stalled their $$$ stumble with the smoke and mirrors of the purchase or would the combined entity needed a “they’re too big to fail” bail out like Citi’s getting now?
Pandit and the board that approved the Wachoiva deal need to be sacked immediately. The lot of them give pirates a bad name.
And, please! No more talk about CEO’s or wall-streeters “sacrificing” or losing bonus money this year! With the rest of the country flat on its collective ass, its impossible to care about one less jerk on Wall Street not being able to send a scion to private school or losing a mansion to foreclosure.