John Reed Apologetic About Creating Citigroup (C)

John Reed said he was sorry that he helped create a company that needed $45 billion in federal aid to avoid bankruptcy and was one of the main triggers of the recession.

Reed helped form the Citigroup (NYSE: C) in 1998, when Citicorp, headed by Reed, merged with Sanford I. Weill’s Travelers Group Inc. to form Citigroup Inc. The bank lost over $27 billion in 2008 and is currently tottering from deep financial troubles.

“I’m sorry,” Reed, 70, said in an interview yesterday. “These are people I love and care about. You could imagine emotionally it’s not easy to see what’s happened.” Reed cautioned against creating such large financial institutions that take a lot of other companies down when they go down themselves.