• Ad Age , Tuesday, August 15, 2006 11:45 AM

Faced with cries from its shareholders, Citigroup has made big cuts in media spending--trimming its investments in cable TV, magazines and the Internet, Ad Age reports. And the pullback comes even as the banking giant tries to boost revenue from its consumer business. Cable deals have been killed in the middle of upfront negotiations, and publishers have had to yank ads that were already scheduled to run in their magazines, the trade magazine says. And some have been told that the business may not be back until the middle of 2007. "It's an earnings-related thing," says one magazine executive. "The promise was being held out that the second half was going to be big." The amount Citi is pulling from the market could be as high as $120 million--what it spent on cable, online and in magazines in the second half of last year. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Citi's largest individual shareholder, has called for cost-cutting, something CEO Chuck Prince has publicly resisted. Apparently, his hand has been forced.

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