Ex-Citi CEO Charles Prince could walk away with as much as $31 million worth of unvested stock, stock options and benefits.

That would be in addition to the nearly $61 million worth of stock holdings he already owns.

Prince, who stepped down on Sunday amid billions of dollars in mortgage-related write-downs at the financial services company, is not believed to have an employment contract so his ultimate exit package would be subject to what he negotiates with the Citigroup board.

The amount is likely to be much less than for other high-profile departures of late, including the $161.5 million that Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. said Stanley O’Neal would get in stock awards and benefits after he was ousted as CEO last week.

Prince could leave with as much as $28 million worth of unvested stock, about $1.28 million in stock options and $1.74 million in pension benefits, according to an analysis of Citigroup regulatory filings by Hay Group, a global management consulting firm based in Philadelphia.

The calculations were based on Citigroup’s closing stock price of $37.73 on Friday.

Prince became CEO in 2003 and was named chairman in 2006. His departure ends a turbulent tenure as company chief that was marked by heavy turnover among his senior managers, questions over the company’s strategy and heavy loan and credit losses.

Because of the company’s falling stock price, many of Prince’s stock options are under water, meaning they have no current value.

The major variable for Prince is expected to be the value of his unvested stock, and whether or not the board will agree to have these shares immediately vest. He could leave with as much as $28 million in unvested stock if a roughly $12 million grant set to vest in July 2008.

Prince also has about 1.7 million stock options that are under water, meaning they have no current value. In Citigroup filings, he has the next two years to exercise them as long as he doesn’t compete with Citigroup’s business operations.

Led by strong growth in the office and retail segments, commercial property sales hit $401 billion through Oct. 18, outpacing last year’s $359 billion total, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York based real-estate research firm.

Construction spending on office buildings, shopping centers and other private, nonresidential projects jumped 15.2 percent in August, the Commerce Department said last month.

There are some signs of slowing growth, analysts say, but nothing compared to the residential real estate market, where foreclosures and mortgage defaults are still rising rapidly, mainly from subprime mortgages extended to risky borrowers. Most economists forecast further declines in home sales and prices, making it “the most significant current risk to our economy,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said last week.

The commercial market has not been dragged down by the residential mortgage mess because for the most part, buyers and sellers are more sophisticated, and they have more financial flexibility and resources to ride out credit-market turmoil, experts said.

“It’s a different animal than the nonresidential construction business with the direct relationship between banks and business leaders, not banks and homeowners,” said Bernard Baumohl, managing director of The Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, N.J.

If the broader economy stumbles, the commercial real estate market would be vulnerable to “credit-risk contagion,” Wheaton said. Already, the credit crunch that started in mortgages has spread to other markets, including the commercial market, with some sellers asking for more capital upfront when mortgage-backed assets are financing a transaction.

Standard & Poor’s went on a rate-slashing spree on homebuilders Friday

On Friday S&P cut its credit ratings on five homebuilders after
recent quarterly earnings and economic data showed the housing market
deteriorating.

The ratings agency lowered D.R. Horton
(nyse:DHI -news -people). Lennar(nyse:LEN -news -people), and Pulte Homes(nyse:PHM -news - people) to non-investment grade or “junk” status.

It also lowered Centex(nyse:CTX -news -people) to the brink of junk and lowered Standard Pacific(nyse:SPF -news -people)’s ratings as well.

It changed the outlook on Ryland Group(nyse:RYL -news -people) to “negative” from “stable,” which raises the company’s chances of having its ratings lowered in the next two years.

S&P said the homebuilding sector’s problems have been “exacerbated by rising inventory levels, the sharp decline in nonconforming mortgage products, and the determinedly negative sentiment of even well-qualified consumers.”

Ratings, which indicate a company’s ability to repay its debt obligations, determine the cost to a company of borrowing money.

In its October report, the association predicts 5.78 million existing homes will be sold in 2007, down from 6.48 million last year. Last month, the association predicted an 8.6 percent drop from a year ago.

This year’s sales would be the lowest since 2002, when sales hit 5.63 million.

Sale prices for existing homes are forecast to drop 1.3 percent to a median of $210,200 this year — a slight improvement from last month’s prediction of a 1.7 percent decline. The median price refers to the point where half sold for more and half for less.

Next year, the trade group expects existing home sales to climb to 6.12 million. That is 2.4 percent lower than last month’s prediction.

New home sales are projected to fall to 805,000 this year down 23 percent from 1.05 million last year. If that forecast is accurate, it would be the worst year since 1997, when 804,000 newly constructed homes were sold. In 2008, 752,000 new home sales are expected.

Despite the bleaker outlook, the group maintains an optimistic message. Its senior economist, Lawrence Yun, noted in a statement that markets including Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City and Raleigh N.C. are showing price growth and 2007’s home sales will be the fifth-highest on record.

“The speculative excesses have been removed from the market and home sales are returning to fundamentally healthy levels, while prices remain near record highs, reflecting favorable mortgage rates and positive job gains,” Yun said.

Existing single-family home sales dropped 4.3 percent in August, compared with the previous month, to the slowest sales pace in five years, according to the Realtors group.

The housing market has been battered by the steepest downturn in 16 years, as measured by the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller index that covers housing prices in major U.S. cities. Problems were exacerbated in August by turmoil in credit markets, reflecting new worries about rising mortgage defaults.

The median U.S. existing home price edged up slightly in August to $224,500, an increase of 0.2 percent from August 2006. It marked the first year-over-year price increase after a record 12 straight months of declining prices.

How to fix and prevent MBR (Master Boot Record) Virus or Boot Sector Virus

What is MBR viruses?

MBR (Master Boot Record) viruses penetrate the master boot code that runs automatically when the computer starts up. MBR viruses are activated when the BIOS activates the master boot code, before the operating system is loaded.

Viruses replace the MBR sector with their own code and move the original MBR to another location on disk. Once the virus is activated, it stays in memory and passes the execution to the original MBR so that startup appears to function normally. If you remove this type of viruses and if you’re not able to restore MBR, your computer become impossible to boot or start.

Some viruses do not relocate the MBR, just destroy the primary partitions listing in the partition table and your PC cannot start.

What is Boot Sector Viruses?

Many viruses rewrite the boot sector with their own code and move the original boot sector to another location on disk. Once the virus is activated, it stays in memory and passes the execution to the original boot sector so that startup appears normal.

How to remove MBR and Boot Sector Viruses?

Use well known commercial programs like Norton Anti-Virus software or you can download free Anti-Virus software programs like Avast! antivirus or AVG free edition by grisoft.com.

How to restore or fix MBR?

Read this post: How to fix MBR

How to prevent MBR and Boot Sector Viruses?

* Use Anti-Virus software, update latest virus definition and scan regularly.

* Set BIOS setting not to boot from removable disk, such as floppy drive, external drive, or usb flash memory stick.

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