Citi's Weill: Gives up corporate aircraft

Citi's Weill: Gives up corporate aircraft

Bowing to political pressure, Citi , which has accepted $45 millin of taxpayer money, said last week it would not accept delivery of a $50 million jet ordered in 2005.

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NEW YORK (REUTERS) -- Former Citigroup Inc. chief Sanford "Sandy" Weill is giving up the use of corporate aircraft as the bank he helped to build tries to weather the credit crunch, his office said Sunday.

The move to immediately waive his contract providing for the use of corporate aircraft is the latest step Weill has taken to reduce the amount of benefits he receives from Citigroup, his office said.

In 2006, Weill cut his use of corporate aircraft following his retirement as Citi's chairman, it added. Weill, who remains one of the bank's largest individual shareholders, is also ending a 10-year consulting agreement after just three years, following $28.5 billion of net losses at Citigroup over the last 15 months.

Weill, who turns 76 in March, asked last August to end the agreement, which gave him access to bank facilities and services comparable to what he had as chairman and chief executive.

Those benefits will end in April. "Mr. Weill cares deeply about the future of Citi and recognizes the extraordinary commitment by the American taxpayer," his office said. Citigroup has accepted $45 billion of taxpayer money in the last four months, as well as a government agreement to limit losses on $301 billion of troubled assets.

Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit is abandoning Weill's "financial supermarket" model, putting businesses he plans to keep into an entity called Citicorp and moving the troubled assets and other businesses into a separate entity.

Weill's Travelers Group Inc bought Citicorp in 1998, creating Citigroup. Weill stepped down as chairman in April 2006, holding more than 16.5 million shares.

Those shares were once worth more than $900 million but have fallen to less than one-tenth of that amount because Citigroup's share price has tumbled.

Last week, under political and public pressure, Citi said it would not accept delivery of a $50 million jet ordered in 2005.

CNN