MER

Can you tell me what Thain is doing nowadays? Is he still at his job, working hard, or has he developed a nice case of senioritis since BofA had agreed to acquire the firm? Any idea where he'll head next if he leaves Merrill following the merger?

Feel free to PM...

Why are there still Merrill Lynch recruiters coming to my college campus? Are they just going through the motions, or is MER actually planning to recruit, interview, and give offers for full time positions? At the event last week, the MER recruiter insisted they will still be hiring for IB, research, and S&T. With incoming 1st years from both MER and BofA still unsure of their future within the combined firm, does anybody know what the deal is here?

Apologies for arriving late to the party! As I'm not currently in NY, I am a bit behind the news, but, boy, when I opened up WSJ/Dealbook/Dealbreaker/etc. this morning, what a an interesting mix of stories! I'm a was a bit flooded with mixed emotions: schadenfreude that my rival was about to go under, but compassion for my friends at the firm; sympathy that one of the firms for which I was rooting would be acquired by a second-tier shop; and growing concern over whether this will eventually affect me personally (even outside of NY, I'm seeing significant stagnation in dealflow...).

Sympathies to those affected, and I will try to remain a bit more tactful than usual, as it does suck to be in such a situation. If you want to hear my real thoughts, however, send me a PM and I'd be glad to share... as a hint, it involves the absurdiites and detriments of affirmative action.

It might just be because I have a crazy hard-on for Thain, but I think that Merrill's in a position to emerge as a top 1-2 bank in the coming 5 or so years. Thain has been doing a good job poaching respected talent at the senior level, such as Thomas Montag, Fares Noujaim, those two MBS guys from JPM/Citi (?), and, most recently, Woody Young. I remember when Woody first left Lehman -- it was huge news, as this was the guy who single-handidly brought in over $230bn worth of deals in a 1-2 year period. People were convinced that he'd either end up at GS or start his own thing - I never thought he'd go to Merrill...

1.) Isn't there supposed to be a hiring freeze?? Apparantly Thain can talk the talk, but not so much walk the walk... regardless, Woody was a good move, so can't really blame him.
2.) Why aren't more sources (other than WSJ) reporting on the Woody Young story - this guy is pretty important. Maybe b/c it's 6:30, before the news runs actually come in?