Morgan Stanley and Citigroup previously entered into a joint venture in which both firms placed their retail brokerage divisions.

Morgan Stanley retained a majority ownership with the right to purchase the remainder of Citi’s ownership percentage.

This was Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman’s brilliant pre-Facebook IPO strategy to position the company as a wealth management focused firm (at a time when the retail investor is fleeing the stock market).

Big surprise, the two companies are disagreeing as to the value of the enterprise and how much Morgan should pay to buy Citi’s stake.  

Read more at: Reuters