Let’s start by talking about Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney, who generated that estimate.  As Peter Kafka explained, Mahaney took MySpace’s established revenue-to-page view ratio and applied it to YouTube’s stats.  In this manner, he predicted that YouTube will earn $945 million and $614 million this year in gross and net revenue, respectively.

Next year, Mahaney thinks YouTube might earn $1.13 billion and $737 million in gross and net revenue.

As for the other man who believes YouTube will do more than break even, he’s Patrick Walker, a director of video partnerships for Google and YouTube.  Walker thinks YouTube’s ability to help sell CDs and DVDs will prove important, along with the introduction of long-form videos.  The site’s established knack at getting lots of people to watch ads should be handy, too, of course.

Now there’s just the matter of whether or not Google will see fit to inform us about YouTube’s performance as time goes by, since the company’s generally kept exact figures under wrap.

“We believe this is the largest and most important CRM agreement of 2007, and our largest deal ever,” stated Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s CEO and chairman.  Now, the first part of his sentence may be debatable, but he’s unlikely to get stats about his own company wrong.

Benioff also noted, “After a lengthy evaluation process to assess functionality, availability, security and integration capabilities, Citibank has selected Salesforce.com over every other CRM solution, including Oracle, Microsoft and SAP,” and that’s not a bad group of corporations to beat.

This deal might, then, seem related to a jump of 74 percent in Salesforce’s profits, but the timing is such that resulting revenue probably won’t go on the books until the fourth quarter.  Salesforce did well in the third quarter due to whatever other business it had going on.

That’ll make it all the more interesting to see what happens over the next few months – since Citigroup signed its deal with Salesforce, a lot of other companies may want to do the same thing.

The purchase includes more than three million Egg customers, and all the products and services the company offers its customers. The deal will expand Citigroups base in the UK by adding Egg’s 2.9 million customers. Citigroup currently has around 800,000 customers in the UK.

Ajay Banga, Chairman and CEO of Citigroup Global Consumer Group – International, said: “Egg is an excellent strategic fit with our business and we are excited to have the opportunity through this acquisition to broaden our international Consumer banking business, and make our products and services available to more people around the world. We also will be able to learn from Egg’s successful direct banking platform to enhance our global offerings.”

The purchase is inline with Citigroup’s strategic growth plans for the UK. In December 2006, they purchased Quilter, a UK wealth advisory firm. This latest acquisition will put the company in a good position to have a larger role in the UK personal financial services market.

George Awad, CEO, Citigroup Global Consumer Group, Europe, Middle East and Africa, said, “This is a terrific acquisition for Citigroup, because it provides us meaningful scale in consumer financial services in the UK, a key strategic market, and enables us to enhance the value proposition for customers. We will deliver growth by combining Egg’s leading edge online products and distribution with Citigroup’s global banking expertise and scale. We look forward to working with the team at Egg.”

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Mike is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

1. Yahoo – 130 million unique visitors
2. Time Warner – 120 million
3. Microsoft – 118 million
4. Google – 110 million

The reason Google will soon top the list? 22% growth from the previous year. Of course, this does not appear to take into account the fact that Google now has YouTube, itself a top ten website, and that Orkut.com is showing surprisingly strong growth lately. According to Alexa, Google now has three top ten sites, besting any other competitor.

These graphs show google.com vs. yahoo, msn.com, live.com and youtube.com, and the second replaces youtube.com with orkut.com:

UPDATE: A VC has some great Comscore numbers and charts. It’s very interesting how different the US and worldwide numbers are. It looks like properties get popular in the US, then, if they last, they eventually get popular worldwide and have huge staying power after that point. As a result, while the US top ten has some recent additions, the international is topped by the big three, followed by a major gap, and then way down, some old guard (Time Warner, Amazon, eBay) and some sites that have just been around a while (Apple, Adobe, Lycos), plus Wikipedia.

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

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Women make a lot of financial decisions; the Census Bureau noted in 2003 that they make 80 percent of those choices in a household. Citigroup has pushed a few initiatives to bolster its Women and Co. website and bring in those financial decision makers.

The most recent promotion involved mirrors, a project MediaPost called a guerilla advertising campaign. In Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, a campaign run by the Interference New York agency placed mirrors around those cities with various sayings:

Citigroup has focused other efforts at the real purchasing and financial decision makers, aimed at reinforcing the brand while emphasizing the comforts sound financial planning can bring. Women and Co. Clients who visit W hotel properties, like Starwood or Westin, get some extra amenities like a wine and cheese tray, and goodies from spa and beauty company bliss’ through the end of 2005.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

“Our businesses faced challenging conditions during the quarter,” said Charles Prince, CEO of Citigroup. “The capital markets environment was one of the worst we have seen in years, and combined with a flattening yield curve, led to a significant decline in our fixed income markets revenues.”

“Rising short-term interest rates and a flattening yield curve resulted in spread compression across several businesses,” continued Prince. “New bankruptcy legislation caused a short-term spike in bankruptcy filings, adding approximately $175 million to our credit costs in North America cards. Despite these challenges, our diversified business platform generated strong profitability.”

Citigroup reported that it’s second-quarter net income went up to $5.07 billion from $1.14 billion in the second quarter of last year, while income from continuing operations reached $4.73 billion, up from $916 million.

“In the second quarter, we continued to sharpen our focus on Citigroup’s leading franchises and invest to extend our competitive advantages,” said Prince. “We announced the sale of substantially all of Asset Management and we closed the sale of our Life Insurance and Annuities business on July 1st.”

“We expect to significantly enhance our private client business with the addition of Legg Mason’s brokerage business and announced an important credit card partnership with Federated,” added Prince. “We continued to expand our distribution network globally, adding 135 new retail banking and consumer finance branches, and we expanded our “ThankYou” Rewards Program to our U.S. retail banking customers.”

Prince also pointed out that the company has made progress regarding legal matters, such as an agreement to settle with Enron, and the conclusion of settlements with UK Financial Services Authority, and the SEC.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Along with the Broker-Dealer business, Citgroup will also acquire about $1.5 billion of Legg Mason’s common and convertible preferred shares, and nearly $550 million in a five-year loan facility provided by Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking.

The deal is worth nearly $3.7 billion. Citigroup will have about a $1.6 billion gain after taxes, but both of these numbers are subject to adjustment.

Citigroup’s asset management business in Mexico, its retirement services business in Latin America and its interest in the CitiStreet joint venture are not included in the deal.

“We have been assessing our options for the Asset Management business and have found, in Legg Mason, a partner with an excellent product set that both complements and enhances our existing product offering to our customers,” said Citigroup CEO Charles Prince. “In addition, we are adding 1,354 experienced financial advisors in 127 branch offices to our Wealth Management business.”

Citigroup announced in a press release that it and Legg Mason have entered into a three-year global agreement under which Citigroup will continue to offer its clients Asset Management’s products and in addition, inherit Legg Mason Wood Walker’s position as the primary domestic provider of Legg Mason’s equity fund family, including the top performing equity funds of Legg Mason Capital Management Inc. managed by Bill Miller.

These will be offered through Citigroup’s Global Wealth Management businesses, Smith Barney and the Citigroup Private Bank, as well as Primerica and Citibank.

“We are pleased to welcome the high quality team of financial professionals at Legg Mason to Citigroup. Deepening our relationships with clients is a top priority, and through this transaction, we are even better positioned to meet their investment needs,” said Prince. “We are continuing to focus our resources on strengthening competitive advantages and building our leading businesses.”

“After careful review, we determined that our emphasis should continue to be on expanding access to best-in-class investment products, rather than on manufacturing proprietary asset management products,” said Citigroup President and COO Robert B. Willumstad. “As part of Legg Mason, an industry leader solely focused on asset management, our Asset Management business will have increased opportunities to grow. We look forward to working with the Legg Mason team on behalf of our clients.”

Subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to reach completion during the fourth quarter of this year. Citigroup is still seeking approval from Asset Management’s mutual fund boards and shareholders.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

On top of that, Citigroup will also acquire about $1.5 billion of Legg Mason’s common and convertible preferred shares, and nearly $550 million in a five-year loan facility provided by Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking.

The deal is valued at approximately $3.7 billion. Citigroup will have about a $1.6 billion gain after taxes, but both of these numbers are subject to adjustment.

Citigroup’s asset management business in Mexico, its retirement services business in Latin America and its interest in the CitiStreet joint venture are not included in the deal.

“We have been assessing our options for the Asset Management business and have found, in Legg Mason, a partner with an excellent product set that both complements and enhances our existing product offering to our customers,” said Citigroup CEO Charles Prince. “In addition, we are adding 1,354 experienced financial advisors in 127 branch offices to our Wealth Management business.”

Citigroup announced in a press release that it and Legg Mason have entered into a three-year global agreement under which Citigroup will continue to offer its clients Asset Management’s products and in addition, inherit Legg Mason Wood Walker’s position as the primary domestic provider of Legg Mason’s equity fund family, including the top performing equity funds of Legg Mason Capital Management Inc. managed by Bill Miller.

These will be offered through Citigroup’s Global Wealth Management businesses, Smith Barney and the Citigroup Private Bank, as well as Primerica and Citibank.

“We are pleased to welcome the high quality team of financial professionals at Legg Mason to Citigroup. Deepening our relationships with clients is a top priority, and through this transaction, we are even better positioned to meet their investment needs,” said Prince. “We are continuing to focus our resources on strengthening competitive advantages and building our leading businesses.”

“After careful review, we determined that our emphasis should continue to be on expanding access to best-in-class investment products, rather than on manufacturing proprietary asset management products,” said Citigroup President and COO Robert B. Willumstad. “As part of Legg Mason, an industry leader solely focused on asset management, our Asset Management business will have increased opportunities to grow. We look forward to working with the Legg Mason team on behalf of our clients.”

Subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to reach completion during the fourth quarter of this year. Citigroup is still seeking approval from Asset Management’s mutual fund boards and shareholders.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Citigroup will also get about $1.5 billion of Legg Mason’s common and convertible preferred shares, and nearly $550 million in a five-year loan facility provided by Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking.

Not included in the deal are Citigroup’s asset management business in Mexico, its retirement services business in Latin America or its interest in the CitiStreet joint venture.

The deal is valued at approximately $3.7 billion. Citigroup will have about a $1.6 billion gain after taxes, but both of these numbers are subject to adjustment.

“We have been assessing our options for the Asset Management business and have found, in Legg Mason, a partner with an excellent product set that both complements and enhances our existing product offering to our customers,” said Citigroup CEO Charles Prince. “In addition, we are adding 1,354 experienced financial advisors in 127 branch offices to our Wealth Management business.”

Citigroup announced in a press release that it and Legg Mason have entered into a three-year global agreement under which Citigroup will continue to offer its clients Asset Management’s products and in addition, inherit Legg Mason Wood Walker’s position as the primary domestic provider of Legg Mason’s equity fund family, including the top performing equity funds of Legg Mason Capital Management Inc. managed by Bill Miller.

These will be offered through Citigroup’s Global Wealth Management businesses, Smith Barney and the Citigroup Private Bank, as well as Primerica and Citibank.

“We are pleased to welcome the high quality team of financial professionals at Legg Mason to Citigroup. Deepening our relationships with clients is a top priority, and through this transaction, we are even better positioned to meet their investment needs,” said Prince. “We are continuing to focus our resources on strengthening competitive advantages and building our leading businesses.”

“After careful review, we determined that our emphasis should continue to be on expanding access to best-in-class investment products, rather than on manufacturing proprietary asset management products,” said Citigroup President and COO Robert B. Willumstad. “As part of Legg Mason, an industry leader solely focused on asset management, our Asset Management business will have increased opportunities to grow. We look forward to working with the Legg Mason team on behalf of our clients.”

Subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to reach completion during the fourth quarter of this year. Citigroup is still seeking approval from Asset Management’s mutual fund boards and shareholders.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Several other banks were accused along with Citgroup of having roles in the huge accounting scandal at Enron that ultimately led to the company’s stock collapsing.

Citigroup is no stranger to paying large sums of money to settle lawsuits. A while back, the company agreed to pay $2.58 billion to investors in relation to a scandal involving WorldCom.

“It is a key priority for Citigroup to resolve major cases like this one and to put a difficult chapter in our history behind us,” stated Citigroup CEO Charles Prince. “By doing so, we will be better positioned to realize our goals. We acknowledge and appreciate the determined and professional efforts of the Regents of the University of California and its advisors in working with us to achieve a settlement that meets the goals of all parties.” Citigroup denies that it broke any laws. Fred Barbash of the Washington Post writes,

The case is one of an unprecedented blizzard of claims and charges stemming from the Enron collapse in 2001. Former Enron executives Jeffrey K. Skilling and Kenneth L. Lay are awaiting criminal trials on fraud and conspiracy charges.

The Arthur Andersen accounting firm all but went out of business after it was convicted of complicity in the Enron case, a conviction reversed this month by the U.S. Supreme Court because of flawed jury instructions.

“We are very pleased with the size of the settlement,” said William Lerach, the lawyer representing University of California investors. “It’s particularly significant in that several large, similarly situated banks remain as defendants in the case, so this is a step down the road, not the last step on the road.”

J.P. Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs are among the banks that have yet to settle with the investors. This settlement may pressure them to consider doing so.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.