Bye bye, Thain.

thanks man, my CNBC doesn't work..but I am glad you keep us posted.

Ken Lewis is the most incompetent CEO on wall street. Thain got his shareholders and his employees paid (not to mention himself) and Ken is left with the mess.

Thain is also a bumbling spendthrift. Who the hell spends 1.2 million dollars on renovation? That's like the base salary of 20 analysts put together.

In his defense, I'm sure that Thain didn't simply go on lnt.com, add those items to cart and press check out. The interior decorator that BofA hired was most likely instructed to make sure that Thain (a card-carrying master of the universe) was greeted with a baller office, as he should be. BofA made TTM 46 billion rev.

Think about your own office. are you sitting in a $1,200 aeron chair? are you crunching models on a $2,000 computer with multiple $400-$800 monitors? Do you make calls on a $300 avaya telephone? Did your company shell out $300 for a new blackberry and does it pay your $150 monthly bill? Do you make $60,000 base in your first year out of college? The perks begin one day one at the lowest level and just get better as you move up.

To quote an anon commenter from dealbreaker: "1) Think of the facilities budget for ML. That amount would be lost in the rounding. A three day cold snap will increase the heating bills by 5x that much. 2) Most of the stuff on the list is hard assets, not like the $1.2 went down the toilet."

I'm not sure how well this bodes for the ML guys at BAC. It's like having a frathouse bought out by a crackhouse.

If you read the story in the WSJ it is clear that Thain was fired and given the option to resign.

"Bank of America had lost confidence in Mr. Thain, this person said, after Mr. Lewis learned of mounting fourth-quarter losses at Merrill from the transition team handling the Bank of America-Merrill merger rather than from Mr. Thain himself. And when Mr. Lewis asked Mr. Thain what happened, the Bank of America CEO did not get a "good explanation for what was happening and why," this person said."

"The Bank of America CEO also concluded Mr. Thain has exercised "poor judgment" on a number of fronts. He left for a vacation in Vail, Colo., after the losses came to light, bonus payments at Merrill were accelerated so they could be collected before the end of the year and Mr. Thain had planned to fly this week to Davos, Switzerland, even though Bank of America had signaled that such a trip was not a good idea, this person said."

Thain represents what is wrong with Wall Street and why it collapsed. Sad to say, Bank of America and their walmart ways represent the future. I would have fired him too if this story is true.

Frankly, it sounds like a lot of high flying Merrill employees have not been too gracious to the fact that BoA saved all of their jobs. They instead entered the firm with their noses up and did their best not to join their new team. A bunch of stuck-up and over paid snobs that deserve what they got imo.

Thain is a joke I dont understand this whole smartest guy on the street garbage that everyone talks about.

I would however like to know what it feels like to take a dump on a $35k toilet

So far I have yet to see anyone address the facts mentioned in the article.

But hey, "I STRONGLY DISAGREE!" posts without any sort of response to actual facts posted and making blind assumptions are always welcome. ty King Kong.

I guess I'm a college kid because I disagree with you, right?

What facts?

Thain screwed BoA and Ken got mad. Guess what, that was Thain's job - maximize his shareholders' value.

Thain went for a vacation and went to Davos - so many details missing from this, it's ridiculous to draw any sort of meaningful conclusions.

Thain pushed for bonuses to be paid before EOY - ok, maybe a dick move to enrich his ML guys but again a lot of detail missing here. And don't tell me that BoA is that incompetent that they let him push it through improperly.

I'm speculating that you're a college kid because of your half-formed, jejune conclusions.

the renovations do appear a little out of touch, but in his defense ML problems aren't the result of anything he did.

1) You are not speculating. You are assuming. Insulting assumptions detract from any point you are trying to make. I'd expect you to realize that.

2) I am very clearly not operating on all real world facts. I am operating on the article I quoted. Notice where I stated "if this story is true."

3) You failed to address any of the points brought up in the article and instead addressed those ridiculous office spending rumors.

The first paragraph I quoted is especially important. Regardless of whether or not he was trying to maximize value for his shareholders, his job was NOT to misrepresent the deal to BoA. It was his responsibility to accurately display the costs and future costs associated with the deal and maximize his shareholders value based on the facts. It sounds like he messed up quite a bit. The fact that BoA heard this information from someone besides Thain himself is pretty terrible. Anyone who was competent and had a sense of dignity would have immediatly addressed these issues and met with the CEO. Not only did he screwup in representing the future costs associated with the deal, but he also screwed up by not being on top of the situation. Combine that with the second paragraph and it looks like the guy is damn near trying to get fired. Why would you rush to hand out bonuses, not address the unexpected cost issue that is blatantly obvious, then go on vacation instead of trying to deal with the issue?

The guy either purposely mislead BoA to maximize his shareholders value (and then rushed to get bonuses out the door before everyone found this out) or he is incompetent. So, he's either a scumbag of the highest degree or he's an idiot. Take your pick.

If you see it another way then feel free to enlighten me without the "college kid" remarks. If it makes you feel better, I can assure you that I graduated several years ago.

Explain to me how Thain is a joke when he maximized Merrill Lynch shareholder value.

Lewis got hustled and is the joke, not Thain.

Thain is in fact a genius.

if you have a full time offer from MER (like this one bitch I know) then HAHAHAHAHAHA.... i'll give you a quarter to shine my shoes

sbmerchant I don't think you have much of a grasp on how things work.

Na Na Na-na Na Na Na-na Hey Hey Heyy Goodbye!!

The world has changed. And we must change with it.

Thain definitley takes care of his own. Anyone else catch part of the article where it states his driver made 230k all in?

As Borat would say " it's nnniiiiiiiiiicccceeee"

sbmerchant:

When you take corp fin. 101 next semester, they're going to tell you this: #1 job of a CEO is to MAXIMIZE SHAREHOLDER VALUE, not play nice with competitors.

The article you copied in isn't stating any facts pointing to Thain being a "joke"--it's actually demonstrating how stupid Lewis is. Kenny wants an explanation from Thain about the losses, but guess what, Thain inherited those toxic assets from Stan O'Neal. There's a little something called "due diligence" in deal making--that's when you make sure you know what you're buying before you pay a 70% premium at a time when valuations are dropping like panties on prom night. Thain is a genius, he maximized shareholder value and made sure his employees got paid.

Thain - "Hey Ken would you want to buy my firm?"

Lewis - "That sounds interesting let me do some research and get back to you."

Lewis- "Were gonna buy it, it will be a great deal and work great for both of us."

Thain- "SWEEEET!"

Lewis- "You have to leave John, you should have known we would not do a lot of due diligence on your firm and that no one would be able to predict this market. You lead me on like a schoolgirl! It's your fault I took my massive firm and bought you!"

35K on a toilet and 1.4K on a trash can. That is great. Screw banking, I think interior design or being a CEO's driver is the real place to make $$.

www.sharpeinvesting.com

LOL k guys. Maximizing shareholder value includes lying and manipulating the transaction, right?

Bullshit. This is part of why Wall Street is getting bent over and fucked in the ass right now. This culture of "maximimizing shareholder value no matter what" is not self sustaining. It is exactly what lead to the collapse of our financial industry.

Thain is either a deceiving scoundrel or he made gigantic mistakes and is incompetent.

what? you really have no idea what your talking about. only mistake Thain made was appearing to live completely within his means (opulently) while his firm prepared to take it in the butt. The problems at ML he inherited and can hardly be blamed on him, he didn't even work at ML before becoming CEO. And yeah, if ML wasn't sold when it was, the shareholders (the people that own the company; the ONLY people who he answers to) would have been far worst off. BoA, made a big mistake for jumping at a "quality" name without really attempting to understand the entire balance sheet and they are getting their just reward. BoA is insolvent, and its only a matter of time till the shareholders are wiped out, but its not the CEO of another company's problem, that is for sure.

http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13004303&sou…

Just heard Obama on CNBC taking a cheap shot at Thain. He said that we need better oversight of the bailout (TARP) money and that we cannot allow for companies to take taxpayer money and use it to remodel offices and bathrooms.

Come on Obama get your facts straight, Thain remodeled his office over a year ago. Just shows how clueless our president really is about what's going on. Or maybe he is purposely misrepresenting facts to push his own agenda, like he did in his campaign.

Oh yeah and his stimulus package is now going to create 3-4 million new jobs - seems like he is adding an extra million every week.

Great Obama is tapping into the populist sentiment already.

And for the love of God, Lewis is the fool for overpaying. What the hell did he think he was buying? Every goddamn person was wondering why they didn't do what Barclays did with Lehman in order to get a toxic-stripped, clean firm.

Now Thain and Fleming are gone. God knows how many ML execs are going to run for the exits when the opportunity presents itself.

thain didn't work there a year ago

Although I agree with most of the comments, I feel Thain was in a position where he had to maneuver strategically. The economic conditions were horrendous, access to capital markets were limited, also he had just previously finished one of the biggest equity offering's in history consequently diluting his shareholders. His firm was in the process of losing massive value. For example, the immense write down of CDO's earlier in the year were sold for twenty two cents on the dollar to a PE firm. Those CDO's were responsible for the majority of Merrill's previous quarterly lost. Subsequently, as the chief executive officer Thain didn't want his company's mortgage exposure to result in a collapse similar to Lehman. Capital markets weren't providing the recapitalization Merrill needed. BOA was the perfect fit for a buyer;Lewis wanted to strengthen his brokerage unit and Merrill was the firm to do it. Lewis is known for his aggressive mentality to buy his revenue streams as CEO.
I blame Ken Lewis for not doing the appropriate due diligence not only in terms of qualitative analysis, but also quantitatively. He should of expected their was a intricate rationale for a legendary firm like Merrill Lynch selling itself to BOA. He should of hired top tier advisory bankers to analyze what their assets were really worth in these current economic conditions. Thain was a desperate seller and Ken Lewis was the buyer who should have considered the counter party risk.

During our sell-side pitches, one banker loves to chime in with "the person who submits the highest bid for your business will either be the smartest guy in the room or the stupidest."

I think that's catchy

Thain is a royal jackass. Obviously his redecorating isn't what brought down Merrill, but this type of extravagance, especially during such tough times is exactly what gives wallstreet/finance its bad reputation. This is also why it is so damn hard to get bailout money, and get bailout plans passed in congress and it kills investors confidence in the leadership of large finance players. Thains actions are no different than those of Bernie Ebbers, they should both be in jail. Oh, and not that it matters but Cramer agrees with me....he is on in the background.

In the end a few fixed income traders brought down ML. I would love to see where they actually lost that 15bn which has crippled BofA if not for the govt. The BSD's deserve a good John Bobbit. Too bad they will still be perceived as demi gods and go to a HF and lose more money down the road. This is John Meriwether all over again. Ego Maniacs that dont know how to take a loss on bad investments.

You guys talk a lot about industry leaders as if they don't deserve any respect. But, I bet you would go work for their institutions. Not all leaders make good decisions in finance and I'm aware of that. We've had a president who made bad choices for two straight terms. To offer your negative opinion constantly with ignorant blunt remarks without understanding circumstances shows your immaturity. Even though executives such as Dick Fuld, John Thain, Alan Schwartz have been under scrutiny amidst the financial meltdown. I respect their rise in the corporate ranks and their names will be remembered in history.

No they won't. People will remember the firms but not the names. Sure, we're in finance, we know them, but the lay person does not and never will.

edit - wrong thread