Citigroup’s Weill Will Complete Contract

Citigroup Inc.’s Sanford Weill said Wednesday that he would complete his term as chairman of the biggest U.S. financial-services firm, abandoning plans to leave early and start a buyout fund.

“It has hurt me to read speculation that in pursuing any new venture, I might somehow find myself competing with Citigroup or acting contrary to the company’s interests,” Weill, 72, said in a memo to employees. “Nothing could be further from my mind.”

Weill’s decision to remain on board until April, as per his contract, ends a standoff with fellow directors, who rejected his attempt to retire early with more than $1 million a year of benefits and perquisites intact, people familiar with the situation said last week.

It also relieves Citigroup Chief Executive Charles Prince of the distraction that the stir created.

Weill said in the memo that he hoped to “establish a business whose activities would complement and benefit Citigroup.” His commitment to the New York-based bank “remains as strong as ever,” Weill said. “I fully support Chuck and his leadership, as well as the direction in which he is taking the organization.”

Weill transformed Baltimore-based Commercial Credit, a consumer-lending unit of a computer maker, into Citigroup through a string of acquisitions that began in 1986. He handed the CEO title to Prince in 2003.