John Thain

The former CEO of Merrill, recently canned by BofA bigwig Ken Lewis (yeah, cuz he's an angel) and publicly shamed for his extravagant spending of company funds on interior decorating in his office, remains tight lipped about the early payout of bonuses to his employees prior to Merrill’s merger with BofA.

He’s under the microscope for the decision to bump up the payment of millions of dollars in bonus money to December, conveniently before the merger went through and while his company was steadily losing billions, ultimately posting a $15 billion loss in just the fourth quarter alone.

A few moments ago, BofA CEO Ken Lewis (our hero) and Merrill’s former chief John Thain hashed things out in what was referred to as an “emergency meeting”, trying to determine what exactly Thain’s future will be at the new Bank of Merrill, or whatever the hell it’s going to end up being called.

Looks like Thain's hitting the road, according to CNBC. Perhaps his lavish spending had something to do with it. Here's a list of a few of the renovations he did to his office when he came on board at Merrill:

Area Rug $87,784
Mahogany Pedestal Table $25,713
19th Century Credenza $68,179

Merrill's chief, and soon to be head honcho of BofA, is recommending that he receive a bonus of $10 million for the year. He feels he deserves it because he kept the firm's annual losses to a mere $11.67 billion. Meanwhile, stock prices have gone from over $50 a share at the time Thain came on board to a Friday close of $13.

Do you guys really think it's the right time to be barking up that tree? How many think he deserves it? I know you Thain lovers think he walks on water but keep in mind that he got $15 million when he signed on with Merrill in 2007 along with his current annual salary of $750k.

I'm interested to see what the rumblings are on this? Particularly from the many who won't be getting jack for a bonus this year.