Richard Parsons, Citi Savior?

Are Vikram Pandit's days numbered? The embattled Citigroup CEO is all over the business pages today. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both say that even with worse-than-expected losses in the billions looming, he's earned enough of a vote of confidence to ride out the storm. Board member Richard Parsons told the WSJ "there's no truth" to the rumors that Pandit's job is in jeopardy, even though the company is expected to report a $10 billion loss on Jan. 22 as its exposure to poor loans ravages its bottom line. Parsons, the former Time Warner chief, is being tapped for a larger role in the company. The NYT says federal regulators—following a $45 billion taxpayer-funded capital infusion last fall, the government is the bank's largest shareholder—want to push Citi Chairman Winfried F. W. Bischoff out and make room for Parsons to restore a semblance of investor confidence.

The game of executive musical chairs at Citi doesn't end there. On Friday, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin announced he will be retiring immediately as the bank's senior counselor, CNNMoney.com reports. "As I enter my 70's and with all that is now in place at Citi, I believe the time has come for me to make these changes," he was quoted as saying. And, this morning, the WSJ reports in a separate article that Charlie Berman, co-head of Citi's European fixed-income operations, has resigned just seven months into the job. It is presumed there will be enough executives left at the bank to ensure that the proposed merger of its Smith Barney brokerage division with Morgan Stanley will proceed without a hitch. Morgan Stanley is expected to make a cash payment to Citi of about $2.5 billion to $3 billion, Reuters reports, to create the world's largest retail brokerage.

Mary L. Schapiro, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, was always expected to face some aggressive questioning during the nomination process, which will take place later this week. But the questions could be even harder to field after the NYT reveals this morning that the SEC chief nominee is being accused, in two separate lawsuits, of misleading investors when she was head of the NASD just as its regulatory unit was being merged with that of the New York Stock Exchange. One suite calls the merger, which created the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, "a corporate transaction effectuated by deception." Schapiro is the CEO of Finra, a firm that the SEC relies on to police Wall Street. The newspaper reports that it is unclear, though, whether the lawsuits will even be a factor in the Senate Banking Committee appointment hearings scheduled for Thursday. "Lawyers involved in the proceeding say they have not been asked about the lawsuits by either the Obama transition team or the Senate banking committee," the NYT writes.

Amid the backdrop of a somber Detroit Auto Show, four-wheel news continues to dominate. "By contrast with past Detroit shows, where auto executives typically outlined their sales forecasts and set market share targets, nearly all the companies are declining this year to predict how the industry will fare," the Detroit News writes. Each of the Big Three, however, is eager to tout green credentials as the companies "unveiled stylish, fuel-efficient and high-tech vehicles Sunday aimed at winning back customers from import brands and countering doomsayers and critics in Washington and across the country," the DetNews adds. With electric hybrids generating buzz throughout the industry, Toyota announced it will introduce 500 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles globally in 2009—a year ahead of the much ballyhooed Chevrolet Volt, the NYT writes. "G.M. announced it first, and Toyota gets it to the market first," one analyst noted dryly. It might be just the boost that Akio Toyoda, grandson of Toyota's founder, needs. The WSJ says he's been tapped to be the company's next president—the first time a family member has held the wheel since 1995. Toyoda "faces the huge challenge of steering Toyota as plummeting global auto sales are expected to force the company into its first annual operating loss in 70 years," the WSJ writes.

Detroit's lean, green sales pitch will have to be persuasive, because all the current key performance indicators for auto sales continue to look dire. Chrysler, the weakest of the Big Three, may insist that it isn't being readied for sale, but it can't even move its own cars through its own dealers, reports the WSJ. Many are "loaded with inventory and aren't ordering new vehicles," it writes. Honda aims to reduce its U.S. inventory by about a third over the next three months, adds another WSJ piece, while Ford may yet be forced to accept government emergency funds, given that almost no one is buying cars.

And, finally, Google thinks it has a new programming hit on its hands: It will create two new YouTube video channels to show Washington lawmakers at work. According to the NYT, one Web page will be dedicated to members of the House and the other to members of the Senate. Elected officials can create branded YouTube channels "to promote their agendas" and "a forum for interacting with citizens." Not a bad idea when you consider how much taxpayer money is in play to revive the economy. Still, lawmakers are historically bad for ratings. The most popular YouTube congressional channel belongs to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, viewed a total of 312 times, the NYT writes.