Abigail C. Field-

Citigroup became Citigroup when Citicorp merged with the Travelers’ Group back in 1998. I didn’t pay much attention at the time. I vaguely remember talk about the Traveler’s iconic red umbrella logo surviving. But I’ve been watching and re-watching Inside Job lately, that very densely packed, must see documentary on our financial crisis, and now realize what a big deal the merger was.

Here’s what a Wall Street Journal article, with the newspaper’s classic nested headlines, could have read:

Citicorp and Travellers Group Plan Illegal Merger
Executives Confident They Can Change Law
Market Agrees, Cheers Deal

Instead, here’s how the New York Times reported on the deal April 7, 1998:

Citicorp and Travelers Plan to Merge in Record $70 Billion Deal:
A New No. 1: Financial Giants Unite

The first mention of illegality is down in paragraph 8:…

[REALITY CHECK]

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