Hardly surprising. John Thain, the former chief executive of Merrill Lynch, was forced to resigned from BofA Thursday after the bank suffered USD15.3 billion in unexpected losses stemming from its acquisition of the giant brokerage.
The decision by Mr. Thain to make an earlier-than-usual bonus payout to Merrill employees, just three days before the merger closed at year end. He paid his senior exec’s but thought hard about helping himself to $10 million and then didn’t as it would have brought a howl of protest.
John Thain has proven to be “part of the problem” and not part of the solution. His actions, and that of others prove again and again that the system is seriously flawed, led by anguine, sardonic management who’s sole goal is to line their pockets not only at the expense of shareholders but at the risk of (losing) the business; which happened in the case of Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros, Bear Stearns and others. Now the sum of the taxpayers who have no choice but to rescue their failed institutions are putting public funds at risk are getting little joy but seeing the likes of Thain discarded onto the large and growing pile of failed management.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/business/23boa.html?ref=business
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/4316475/Merrill-Lynch-paid-billions-in-bonuses-before-bailout.html
