"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! And welcome to a special performance of the Sandy and Jonny show. And joining us as our special guest star today, heeeerrrrrrre's Bobby!" Yes, Citigroup's CEO show is back on the air, broadcast live from the 12th floor auditorium of Citibank's midtown Park Avenue building. But this was not the stunning programme initially expected when Citigroup announced the show. Speculation had been rife that another merger or acquisition was on the way: chairmen and co-CEOs Sandy Weill and John Reed were, after all, presenting the show themselves, and the promoters were PR company Kekst and Co, which had made a name for itself compering at various M&A shows over the years.
But no, not this time. Instead our hosts walked in with the new employee of the week, Mr Robert Rubin, 61, co-CEO of Goldman Sachs until 1993, when he left to join the White House staff in Bill Clinton's administration, before becoming US treasury secretary in 1995.
When they announced that Rubin was to join the firm, there was cheering and rapturous applause from the audience; Sandy and Jonny were speaking mainly to their own people, and the people approved.