Citigroup to slash 50,000 jobs worldwide

Citigroup said Monday it would cut up to 50,000 jobs worldwide as the US banking giant struggles with the global financial crisis and four consecutive quarters of heavy losses.
The company said the new job reductions would shrink its global workforce to 300,000 employees.
Citigroup, whose shares have been battered amid the credit crisis, said it would reduce its expenses by 20 percent to approximately 50-52 billion dollars.
The bank said Friday it would make further job cuts to cope with the financial crisis, and announced chief executive Vikram Pandit and other key executives had bought up 1.3 million shares to show confidence in the banking giant.
Citigroup shares fell some 24 percent last week and have dropped 70 percent since the start of the year, with the bank hit by hefty writeoffs linked to the US real estate crisis.