Citigroup Wednesday outlined its first companywide restructuring since Citicorp and Travelers Group merged in 1998 to form Citigroup.
The plan, which is the result of a company review spearheaded by Chief Operating Officer Robert Druskin, includes job cuts of some 17,000 among other cost-cutting measures. The plan is also seen as an answer to investor concerns about the leadership of CEO Charles Prince as well as those about strategy and growth at a company famous for "a growth-by-acquisition" model but saddled with bulging expenses in recent years. The plan -- along with previously announced savings in the technology area -- will save the company more than $10 billion through 2009.
Druskin spoke with Erin Burnett in a wide-ranging interview (available here in two parts) about the plan. explaining how the company is in a "continuous improvement mode" and how it plans to make "very targeted investments' in both markets and services. China and India, for instance, are high on the list of overseas priorities, while derivatives and other structured products are keys to its basket of goods and services.