Citigroup's Chuck Prince: The Unlikely Revolutionary, by Marcia Vickers, page 132
Two-and-a-half years into his job as CEO of Citigroup, Chuck Prince is still feeling his way. "That might be unremarkable except for one thing," reports Marcia Vickers. "While learning on the job, Prince has taken it upon himself to stage one of the most difficult turnabouts ever attempted on Wall Street. "He has the potential to be a great CEO," says Robert Rubin, the former Treasury Secretary and Wall street luminary who is a Citigroup director and chairman of the executive committee. Another Prince advisor who echoes this on-his-way-but-not-yet theme is Richard Parsons, Citigroup board member: "He probably didn't have enough line experience [when he became CEO]; he's turning out to be a better leader than we hoped. Still you can't anticipate the experience of being CEO."

Citigroup was built, metaphorically brick by brick, by the colorful and loquacious Sandy Weill, Prince's mentor and predecessor." Yet Prince has committed himself to completely tearing up Weill's management system and philosophy. Organizational structure has been revamped, priorities—in particular the imperative to meet each quarter's earnings estimates and worry about the long term later—have been rearranged. Prince, says Vickers, is responding to fiscal reality. Instead of the growth-by-acquisition model used so effectively by Weill, Prince sees Citi's future dependent on organic growth, which in turn will require a more efficient, centralized, and systematized corporate culture than the one bequeathed to him by Weill.

China's Internet Revolution, by Clay Chandler, page 148
Some of America's most respected technology pioneers, among them many who tout the Web as a force for individual empowerment, turn out to have collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party's effort to keep the Internet under its boot: the so-called Great Firewall of China that is the gateway between users in China and the rest of the world. But lost in the furor are important truths about the Chinese web, reports Clay Chandler. One is that Chinese citizens enjoy greater freedom of thought and access to information from outside China than at any time in history. "The Internet is a major reason for that," says Chandler, "and will continue to tip the scales in favor of openness, as the very nature of the web is to bring people together outside the ambit of the state." How long it will take for China's digital wall to go the way of its stone counterpart is anyone's guess. But what is clear, says Chandler, is that it has already begun to crumble.

DEPARTMENTS
In FIRST: The King Meets His Public Burger King, a distant No. 2 to McDonald's, is set to launch a long-awaited IPO, thanks to a private-equity overhaul. Life as a public company won't be easy, reports Justin Fox, but at least now it has a fighting chance. A Shell of Itself Buried beneath record profits are signs of the No. 3 oil company's decline. On The Radar What's ahead for Bill Gates & Co., Fannie Mae, and Warren Buffett. Napster's Ghost Rises The record labels vs. iTunes. Rx for Chaos? Prescribing drugs online sparks a debate. The Battle Over Broadband Big telcos want to put toll booths on the information superhighway. Search Us! Whither Google's stock? Question Authority Wall Street star Larry Fink hits the even bigger time. In DISPATCHES: Enron Diary Tough questions, a whiff of witness intimidation, and one alleged obscenity as the defense strikes back. Shanghaied in Florida Moltech may have been the first company to fall into Chinese hands-but it's a long way from global domination. VC Heaven At the Demo conference, showmanship and gamesmanship can make you rich. Univision is Ready for Its Closeup Let the bidding begin for the star of Spanish-language media. In COLUMNISTS: Street Life The Face of Change at GM-Jerry York. Value Driven It's America's other debt crisis: Companies don't borrow enough. Media Bubble What Price Knight Ridder? In INVESTING: Mall Star Analyst A top-ranked stock picker shows FORTUNE what sizzling and what's fizzling in the world of retail. Janus Takes Another Step on the Road to Recovery With its flagship foundering, the troubled Denver fund powerhouse installs a new skipper. In BUSINESS LIFE: Scene Cuisine High-end Japanese restaurant chains cross the Pacific. Plus: Road warrior Rande Gerber, recycled real estate, and more. Gadgets MooBella's Unix-flavored ice cream, and a vanity press for the masses.

For further information please contact:
Susan Brown Williams
212-522-0133
susan_williams@timeinc.com

Phil DiIanni
212-522-6282
phil_diianni@timeinc.com

 

 

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