Gossip Column Takes Aim at Reed
John S. Reed, the embattled chairman of Citicorp, has become fodder for New York's gossip mongers.
Richard Johnson, a columnist for the Daily News in New York, reported Wednesday that Mr. Reed is in the middle of an unseemly divorce.
Steamy Tale
The tabloid reported that the nation's most prominent banker has left his wife of 27 years for a flight attendant on the corporate jet he uses in his frequent travels. The flight attendant is divorcing her husband, the article said.
A Citicorp spokeswoman declined to comment on the article. "We don't discuss the personal lives of our employees," she said.
The report comes at a time when Mr. Reed has come under fire for his oversight of Citicorp, which is struggling under the weight of problem real estate loans and desperately trying to build capital. In Paris Wednesday, Mr. Reed reiterated that Citicorp is looking to raise $2 billion in capital by yearend.
Will Board Be Concerned?
Some analysts suggested that Citicorp's board might be concerned about Mr. Reed's messy divorce, but others disagreed.
"I shouldn't think the board should care. They want to see results in the company," said Raphael Soifer, a banking analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
