I’ve been reading the Sandy Weill page
on Wikipedia, trying to work out why he was so attached to that bloody red umbrella:
he only bought Travelers in 1993, and then he spun it off from Citigroup in
2002. [UPDATE: David Wighton of the FT reports that “Mr Weill became attached to the umbrella after commissioning a study that concluded it was ‘the single most trusted symbol in financial services’.”]
In any case, Travelers has now bought
its umbrella back, which with any luck means it will get removed from the
Citigroup building in Tribeca – both in neon and steel form.
I’m just upset that no one is revealing how much the umbrella went for. I’m
sure it’s the most expensive umbrella ever sold.