News In Brief

Citigroup said it would split its stock three-for-two and follow that by raising its quarterly dividend by 16.7 percent - to 14 cents a share. The announcement came a day after Citigroup, the biggest US financial-services company, posted a first-quarter surge in net income to a record $2.36 billion, driven by a sharp turnaround in its corporate banking and securities business.

An ambitious plan by the giant but heavily-in-debt South Korean conglomerate Daewoo to sell off all but eight of its 34 subsidiaries was met with skepticism by analysts. The company announced that by October it will unload - among other holdings - its shipbuilding division, four electronics companies, and two Hilton hotels. Those are worth a combined $5.8 billion, which Daewoo proposes to use for paying down debt and reinvesting in its automobile plants. Economists questioned whether buyers can be found that soon.