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Mike Corbat’s Bosses Finally Think He’s As Good As Brian Moynihan

After six long years, the Citi chief is finally a $20 million man.
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When Mike Corbat because CEO of Citigroup back in 2012, he had a dream, a dream that one day his bank would “get to a point where we stop destroying our shareholders’ capital.” A dream that one day he’d be able to do that through means other than firing everybody. A dream that Citi wouldn’t always fail all the stress tests. A dream that one day, his emerging markets business would receive the high praise of “no deficiencies."

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That dream has more or less come true, in spite (or perhaps because) of Citi’s worst-ever quarter. But there was an unspoken part of the dream: That one day Mike Corbat would no longer be less valued than Brian Moynihan. That one day he’d be able to look his peers in the face and when Lloyd Blankfein reached for the check with pity and said, “Don’t worry, Mike. We’ve got this,” he could slam his hand down upon that bill and tell Lloyd and Jamie and Jim and Brian, “NO. I’ve got this. For I, too, now make in excess of $20 million per year.” And now, that too has come to pass.

Mr. Corbat is expected to receive total compensation of $23 million for 2017, according to a regulatory filing from the bank Friday. That is his biggest compensation package ever as CEO and a 48% increase from the previous year, when he received $15.5 million….

His compensation is an about-face from last year, when the board cut his pay because of “the firm’s performance relative to its financial targets.”

The board said Mr. Corbat had demonstrated “exceptional leadership in multiple critical areas,” including risk management and talent management. It also said it considered the pay of CEOs at peer institutions.

Citigroup Gives CEO Corbat a Big Raise, Up 48% to $23 Million [WSJ]

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Over at the Journal today you will find a story called "Awkward Spot For Citi's CEO," which details the various awkwardness encountered by Mike Corbat since he took over as Chief Executive Officer, following Vikram Pandit's awkward ousting. There is also a delightful bonus round of awkwardness that comes as a postscript to the article, but we'll get the that later. First, why are things slightly awk for Corbat? Well, for starters, he knew that Pandit was going to be unexpectedly and unceremoniously fired long before VP did, including the entire time they were on a business trip together. The whole time they were flying over there together, having dinner together, meeting with clients together, taking in shows and doing touristy things when they had downtime from the conference together, he knew Pandit was about to get hit by a truck. No one blames Corbat for Vickles getting canned but, at the same time, there is a feeling by a few at Citi that you'd have to be some kind of monster to look a person in the eye and say "Sure, a trip the the Zen Temples sounds great," and take in the cherry blossoms and drink sake and do karaoke and fight over who is Scarlett Johansson and who is Bill Murray with him all the while knowing what was going to happen when you got home. For Vikram Pandit, a trip to Tokyo for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank conference last month seemed routine. But Michael Corbat, the longtime Citigroup executive who joined Mr. Pandit there, knew better. Unbeknown to Mr. Pandit, Citigroup Chairman Mike O'Neill had told Mr. Corbat that the board could seek Mr. Pandit's resignation as chief executive and hand the job to Mr. Corbat, according to people familiar with the situation. A day after Messrs. Pandit and Corbat returned to New York, that is exactly what happened. A host of financial, competitive and regulatory issues confronts the 52-year-old Mr. Corbat atop the nation's third-biggest bank by assets. But no task is more critical than soothing workers unsettled by the way the board ousted Mr. Pandit and his longtime right-hand man, John Havens, who ran the investment bank and served as president and chief operating officer. The effort is made even more delicate by Mr. Corbat's proximity to Mr. Pandit in the days before the coup. Executives say they don't blame Mr. Corbat for Mr. Pandit's overthrow, though some wondered how Mr. Corbat was able to sit through the IMF meetings knowing what was to unfold. Additionally awkward is the fact that there has been chatter around the office and scrawled on the walls of the men's room that there's only enough room in this Citi for one guy named Mike, and it's not Corbat. Adding to Mr. Corbat's challenges is the perception among some insiders that he is overshadowed by Mr. O'Neill. Employees have privately joked that of the two Mikes, it is Mr. O'Neill who is truly in charge. People close to Mr. O'Neill dispute that notion and say he has spent little time at his Citigroup office in the past month. Finally, you have the awkwardness of Mike not only knowing his colleague Vikram was going to be fired, but that his colleague and friend, John Havens, was getting the boot himself, which may or may not have caused auxiliary awkwardness for Corbat on the home front. Mr. Corbat's position is all the more awkward given his close personal relationship with Mr. Havens. The two men spent time together outside of work, occasionally vacationing with their wives at Mr. Havens' Scotland estate. All good examples of things that could be characterized as awkward to be sure. But! The absolute most wonderful bit of awkwardness to be found in "Awkward Spot For Citi's CEO," is, without question, this:

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