Sandy Weill and the Story Behind Citigroup

By Steve Inskeep

Published October 10, 2006 at 12:01 AM EDT

In his new autobiography The Real Deal, the former chairman and CEO Sanford "Sandy" Weill describes his storied career, from his beginnings as a runner on Wall Street to building the world's largest financial empire: Citigroup.

The company was founded in 1998 when Weill negotiated the historic merger between two financial giants, Citicorp and Traveler's Group. The deal transformed financial services in America.

Citigroup eventually became a banker to Enron and WorldCom. Scandals involving those companies snared Citigroup, too. Citigroup paid $2.65 billion to settle an investor lawsuit over its role in the WorldCom scandal, and critics of the company questioned whether Weill had created an empire he could not control.

Steve Inskeep

Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.

See stories by Steve Inskeep

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