For anyone interested in Internet stocks, Citigroup's firing of analyst Mark Mahaney is a stunning development. As my colleague Steve Schaffer notes, the firing comes after the state of Massachusetts hit Citigroup with a $2 million fine, asserting that the firm’s lead Internet analyst did not adequately supervise an underling who shared the bank’s pre-IPO view on Facebook with TechCrunch. The state's consent memorandum also details a previous occasion in which Mahaney provided some details on his views about Google to a reporter from a French magazine without first receiving clearance from the bank's compliance department.
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