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Sandy Weill and the Story Behind Citigroup

In his new autobiography The Real Deal, the former chairman and CEO Sanford "Sandy" Weill describes his storied career, from his beginnings as a runner on Wall Street to building the world's largest financial empire: Citigroup.

The company was founded in 1998 when Weill negotiated the historic merger between two financial giants, Citicorp and Traveler's Group. The deal transformed financial services in America.

Citigroup eventually became a banker to Enron and WorldCom. Scandals involving those companies snared Citigroup, too. Citigroup paid $2.65 billion to settle an investor lawsuit over its role in the WorldCom scandal, and critics of the company questioned whether Weill had created an empire he could not control.

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Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.