Pizza fueled Citigroup rescue

The deal to rescue the world's best-known bank was pieced together by regulators over Domino's pizza in near-empty offices one block from the White House.

Citigroup Inc, whose operations in more than 100 countries range from mortgages to microfinance, received a government rescue package to protect the bank from losses on $306 billion of toxic assets. The agreement, meant to stabilize the company after the value of its stock plunged 60 percent last week, boosted the shares 58 percent in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday.

The effort to prop up the bank included an all-night stay on Saturday at its Park Avenue headquarters in New York by about a half-dozen examiners from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to a person familiar with the matter.