Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C, stock) is selling its red umbrella logo to the St. Paul Travelers Companies (NYSE: STA, stock), an insurance company. Citigroup would tie its businesses together under the Citi brand, with a simple stylized arc over its name. Starting next quarter, its various businesses will begin using different colored logos, all with the red arc. Division names will begin with Citi, like Citi Smith Barney, Citi Investment Research and Citi Private Bank. The company will retain Citigroup Inc. as its legal name.
The 137-year-old logo red umbrella logo originally used by St. Paul Travelers Companies. Mr. Weill made the Travelers Group logo famous when he merged that company with Citicorp in 1998. Citigroup’s chairman and chief executive, Charles O. Prince III said “Our research continued to show that the trademark red umbrella was more connected with insurance, specifically St. Paul Travelers,”
Jay S. Fishman, St. Paul Travelers’ chairman and chief executive, said the value of the deal was in the millions. St. Paul Travelers, which was formed after Citigroup spun off Travelers and the St. Paul Companies later acquired it, will change its name to Travelers and will switch its stock ticker to TRV from STA.
I agreed the red umbrella is more suitable for an insurance company. I didn’t like the red umbrella from the start anyway. It looks sickening. If you’re loaded with free cash, why don’t you try to buy the 16-foot 5,300-pound steel sculpture outside Citigroup bank in Lower Manhattan? Who knows, you might make a great fortune auctioning the sculpture later on. Better than investing stocks, I guess.
February 14th, 2007 by financetwitter
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