ML's John Thain asking for $10,000,000.00 bonus...

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The things that make one's blood boil...

Why Merrill CEO Wants $10 Million Bonus

December 08, 2008 12:59 PM

ABC News’ Daniel Arnall reports: With the financial sector in its steepest dive since the Great Depression, reports that Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain is asking for a $10 million bonus this year is raising the ire of many people.

But 53-year-old Thain, once the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange and COO/CFO/president of Goldman Sachs, is likely making a compelling case to the company’s compensation committee.

What could he possibly be saying to justify the eight-figure bonus in a year when the Merrill shareholders have lost 35 percent of their investment and have seen the firm report a loss of $5.1 billion in the latest quarter?

I’ve been very good at cleaning up a mess that was here when I started.

Thain took the reins of the firm in November 2007 after the global financial crisis had already started to take hold. During Thain's tenure, Merrill Lynch has been dealing with the investment in bad loans fairly successfully. At the last quarterly report, the firm said it had jettisoned 98 percent of its Alt-A mortgage exposure and other risky investments by 15 percent.

“We continue to reduce exposures and de-leverage the balance sheet prior to the closing of the Bank of America deal,” Thain said in the company’s latest earnings release.

I’ve raised money in one of the worst markets in history.

Despite the stock market terror that has hit since October 2007, Thain has persuaded investors to plow an additional $10 billion in cash into the company through a stock offering and got an additional $4.5 billion by selling the company’s stake in financial info giant Bloomberg. That extra money gave it the “runway” it needed to come to a resolution other than bankruptcy or collapse.

I sold the company instead of letting it collapse like Lehman Bros or Bear Stearns.

We’ve certainly seen what has happened to other big investment banks. In March, Merrill competitor Bear Stearns was victim to a government-engineered fire sale to competitor JPMorgan. In September, Lehman Bros. was allowed to fail, leaving investors and bond holders with nothing.

Thain did not allow Merrill to share their fate, instead pulling together a $50 billion merger with Bank of America. It has been a success story at a time when most of the news from the financial service sector has been unbelievably bad.

“As the landscape for financial services firms continues to change and our transition teams make good progress, we believe even more that the transaction will create an unparalleled global company with pre-eminent scale, earnings power and breadth,” said Thain.

While the board of directors is likely going to turn Thain down -- I imagine there would be a pitchfork-and-torches crowd in front of their New York headquarters if it didn’t -- Thain likely won’t have anything to worry about in the long term. He has been offered the top job at Bank of America’s new global banking, securities and wealth management division. I’m sure the salary and other compensation is pretty rich.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

waaaaaaaaaaaah

[Jasman0717 9]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

What a putz.

[reeses16 8]

I know right?! Completely ridiculous.

[almaty 19]

chopf##k