Sandy Weill Has a Special Bonus for Those Who Stick With Citi

Want to keep your spouse from taking off to Antigua with your mechanic? Need to make sure Junior doesn't ditch his SAT prep classes to follow Britney Spears on her next tour? Ask Citigroup (C Quote) co-chairman Sandy Weill for advice; he knows how to keep the important people at home.

For Weill, the challenge is to keep valued Citi employees -- particularly 10,000 Salomon Smith Barney brokers -- in place to help hit the megabank's growth and earnings targets. So, Citi has recently rolled out a sweet new employee stock plan. The 2000 Stock Purchase Plan lets employees buy up to $75,000 worth of Citi shares at the July 31 closing price, but allows them to pay for it over 24 months. If on Sept. 16, 2002, the stock price is lower than the July 31, 2000 price, they can return the stock and get their money back, plus interest.

If that seems a touch, well, generous, consider the $875 million kiss UBS(UBS Quote) gave key PaineWebber(PWJ Quote) employees when it agreed two weeks ago to acquire the U.S. brokerage firm. Wall Street firms, known for spending freely to hire the best talent available, now seem equally intent on paying to keep the talent they already have. ...