Citi, M. Stanley Mulling More Stocks for Staff Pay?

Citigroup and Morgan Stanley will in the next few weeks announce plans to authorize or repurpose shares so they can have enough stock to compensate employees, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The need to add or free up stock has been exacerbated by plunging share prices, the paper said.

Citigroup will ask holders to boost its authorized share count far beyond what it needs to meet a capital restructuring announced last month, according to the paper.

Morgan Stanley may need to use more of its currently authorized shares for bonus payments, which will require shareholder approval, the paper said.

Citigroup is finalizing plans to seek shareholder approval to boost its share authorization to 40 billion shares or more, from the current 15 billion shares, the paper said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Citigroup is requesting the overhang in large part to pay out equity-based compensation, people familiar with the matter told the paper.

Spokesmen for Citigroup and Morgan Stanley declined to tell the paper exactly how much stock they would need for future compensation payments. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

Citigroup's shares closed at $3.08 Wednesday, the highest finish since Feb.
13, while Morgan Stanley's shares closed at $24.19.

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