U.S. Treasury exits Citigroup common shares.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the sale of its remaining 2.4 billion shares of Citigroup Inc. common stock. In its announcement, Treasury noted that with this transaction, it has recovered all of the $45 billion invested in Citigroup under the Troubled Asset Relief Program and also realized a gain of more than $12 billion for U.S. taxpayers from its equity investment in the company.

In a memo to employees, CEO Vikram Pandit said, "We remain deeply grateful to the American people for the assistance we received and are very pleased that we have provided a substantial return on their investment. This milestone is a result of all of your hard work in executing our strategy. In addition to repaying the government and achieving three consecutive profitable quarters, I believe we have put all the elements in place for sustained profitability and are on a path toward responsible growth."