“With Citigroup's profits down 60 per cent, and not just because of sub-prime, how much longer can Chuck Prince [the Citigroup chief executive] last?” asks nymag.com.

Not long, most suggest.

Indeed, the accepted wisdom on the web today says that yesterday’s counterintuitive up-tick in Citigroup’s share price signalled expectations that Mr Prince would depart.

“You've got to love a market where a firm that has a stunning profits miss [Citigroup] actually rallies on hopes that they finally turf out their muppet-like chief executive,” the Macro-Man site says.

Megan Barnett, of Portfolio.com, agrees.

“When does the news ‘our third-quarter earnings will fall by 60 per cent’ turn into ‘shares climb by more than 2 per cent’ … [when] investors are sure that the dismal news will lead to Prince's departure,” she says.

“Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Mayo is helping to fuel the fire. He called today's announcement the 'tipping point for a change at CEO of Citigroup' … Mayo even went on to suggest Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, as the interim replacement. He said the bad news could ultimately be good news for Citigroup shareholders.

“Plenty of shareholders have been calling for Prince's ouster since the bank's shares have languished in recent years. It's not a stretch to conclude that this quarterly announcement could be his last at Citigroup.”

Wsj.com's Dealbook blog spells out the depth of Citigroup's misery. "All the segments stunk," it says.

"Leveraged lending? An expected $1.4 billion write-down of the value on bad LBO debt. Sub-prime mortgages? Another $1.3 billion hit. Fixed-income trading? $600 million down. And the vaunted consumer business, which is supposed to be the See to the investment bank’s Saw? A $2.6 billion hit for bad-loan provisions."

It added: "With this profit warning, Prince may be trying to sweep out all the bad news he can this third quarter. It’s a go-to move for industries in turmoil. But in doing so, he may also be imperiling his ability to hang on to his job.

"That may be just fine for the minions inside Citigroup. They have been howling for years that Prince is the wrong man for the current environment; that his role as ethics-bearer – created after the Enron and WorldCom scandals – isn’t needed any more."

So, is there anything that can save Mr Prince? Yes, suggests Douglas A. McIntyre at bloggingstocks.com: similarly dire performances by his peers.

Mr Prince “needs a few friends”, McIntyre says. “Not the kind he can go fishing with.”

He adds: “Prince finds himself in a position not unlike that of James Cayne, the head of Bear Stearns. Both financial institutions now have taken very big hits on their watches. Both can blame subordinates, but that may not cut it with their boards or public shareholders.

“What saves them? For starters, UBS. The Swiss bank has just reported similar problems in its fixed income portfolio. If the bad news spreads to Bank of America, Lehman and other global money center banks and investment firms, Prince may be viewed as a victim of a train wreck that almost none of the large firms could avoid. He will, in essence, look as stupid as all of his peers.”

Finally, mention should be made of the sense of Schadenfreude that Mr Prince’s plight looks to have evinced across the web.

Matthew Wurtzel, of thedealblogs.com, is far from the only commentator to point to Mr Prince’s cocksure comments to the Financial Times in July.

“When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated,” Mr Prince had said. “But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.”

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