Citigroup’s investors worried

NEW YORK – Charles Prince is walking out Citigroup’s doors with potentially millions in his pocket, leaving behind a bank that many believe needs serious therapy.

Investors are not only worried about the $8 billion to $11 billion the bank expects to slash on its investments. They’re also concerned that Prince’s successor as CEO may not administer the bitter medicine many say the bank needs to revive, including lancing some of its businesses.

Citigroup Inc. shares plunged $1.83, or 4.9 percent, to $35.90 Monday.

Many market watchers have said Citigroup’s stock would soar once Prince was out. But shareholders’ displeasure was not with Prince the person, but rather his unproven strategy and hesitancy to break up the nation’s biggest financial services company, built by his predecessor Sanford I. Weill.

Chairman Robert E. Rubin and acting CEO Sir Win Bischoff have indicated that they plan to continue with Prince’s strategy, keeping Citigroup intact and focusing on international operations.

•Miami-based Burger King Holdings Inc. said Monday its first-quarter earnings rose 23 percent, but shares of the world’s second largest hamburger chain fell almost 4 percent as three big shareholders disclosed plans to sell about a third of their holdings.

Burger King’s profit narrowly beat Wall Street expectations as movie-related marketing promotions and sales of chicken sandwiches and value breakfast items helped offset higher food costs.

The fast-food company earned $49 million, or 35 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with $40 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 10 percent to $602 million from $546 million in the prior-year period.

•Local union presidents and bargaining chairs have unanimously voted to recommend approval of a tentative four-year contract between Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers, a union local official said Monday.

Bruce Yates, bargaining chairman at Local 2000 at an assembly plant in Avon Lake, Ohio, said the deal was recommended by a voice vote.

Local union officials on Monday afternoon still were meeting with union President Ron Gettelfinger and the national bargaining team at a hotel near Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.