Citigroup's Smith Barney in Venture With Morgan Stanley

Late yesterday, Citigroup announced it would merge its Smith Barney brokerage unit with Morgan Stanley. Bloomberg News reports, "The venture, which New York-based Morgan Stanley will control with a 51 percent stake, would employ 20,390 brokers in more than 1,000 branches." However, it's unclear whether they will be able to retain those brokers: MS co-president James Gorman said, "Will there be financial-adviser attrition? That’s possible. It’s obviously a hot recruiting market out there." (It is?) And the jury is still out on whether the venture will help the ailing Citigroup, which expects losses of $10 billion for the 4th quarter.