Jamie Dimon opens up on Citigroup firing and 2020 heart emergency

The Story in Brief

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has called his 1998 exit from Citigroup and a 2020 emergency heart surgery the two defining moments of his life. Speaking on The Master Investor Podcast, Dimon said he was summoned by mentor Sandy Weill and John Reed and asked to resign due to organisational changes. He told his family, with one daughter asking if they would sleep on the streets. But Dimon said the firing “affected my net worth, not my self-worth.” He briefly considered leaving Wall Street after a talk with Amazon's Jeff Bezos but instead invested about Rs 4,500 crore of his own money into Bank One, which later merged with JPMorgan.

In March 2020, Dimon underwent lifesaving open-heart surgery for an aortic dissection. He recalled telling his wife to call the company and say what was happening. The experience gave him a sense of peace about his legacy, contrasting with the professional setback of his Citigroup exit.