Thain is now unemployed

[XOM]

Be sure and read the last line in this story...nothing has changed on the Street.




Jan. 22 (Bloomberg)

-- John Thain, who engineered the sale of 95-year-old Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America Corp. in September, was ousted after Merrill’s $15.4 billion loss forced the bank to seek more money from the U.S. rescue fund.

Thain, 53, “agreed his situation was not working out and that he should resign,” said Robert Stickler, a Bank of America spokesman, in an e-mail. The resignation ends Thain’s tenure with the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank less than a month after Merrill’s takeover was completed.

Thain negotiated the sale in with Bank of America Chief Executive Offier Kenneth Lewis, 61, whose credibility was undercut when the brokerage reported a record fourth-quarter deficit. Lewis, who considered backing out of the deal when he learned of the extent of Merrill’s losses last month, went ahead at the insistence of U.S. regulators who provided a new $138 billion aid package.

Lewis “is by no means in his job in any secure way,” Gary Townsend, president of Hill-Townsend Capital LLC in Chevy Chase, Maryland, said in a Bloomberg Radio. “Ken Lewis has his issues.”

Trading chief Tom Montag, 52, who was hired by Thain from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., will stay with the company, according to Stickler.

Thain had headed Bank of America’s wealth management and corporate and investment banking divisions. Senior Merrill executives Robert McCann and Greg Fleming resigned less than a week after the transaction was completed on Jan. 1.

Thain this year spent $1.2 million to redecorate his office at New York-based Merrill, CNBC reported today.

[Wookie]

I wonder what the hush hush agreement gives him in pocket money to hit the road....

[XOM]

Thain starts his own company and hires Lewis after he gets fired.

[Wookie]

Firing John Thain Should Be Ken Lewis's Last Act At Bank Of America (BAC)

Ken Lewis has now successfully focused some of the outrage about the destruction of Bank of America (BAC) on John Thain.

Thain was the one responsible for that $15 billion loss.

Thain was the one who approved $15 billion of bailout-funded bonuses.

Thain was the one who spent $1.2 million decorating his office.

And now, a month after the bonus and loss outrages, Ken Lewis has finally fired John Thain.

As he should have. Someone has to take direct responsibility for that loss, the taxpayer-funded bonuses, and the humiliation of Ken Lewis.

And John Thain's that man.

But don't let this distract you from who is ultimately responsible.

No one forced Ken Lewis to buy Merrill Lynch--the decision that, more than any other, destroyed Bank of America shareholders.

No one forced Bank of America to approve the $15 billion in bailout-funded bonuses Merrill just paid to its workforce.

John Thain isn't responsible for those decisions. Ken Lewis is.

If Bank of America's board doesn't finally acknowledge this and throw him out, the board should be thrown out, too.

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/162333/Firing-John-Thain-Should-Be-Ken-Lewis%27s-Last-Act-At-Bank-Of-America-(BAC)?tickers=BAC,MER,^DJI

[aiki14]

John Thain gets to be the Tin Woodsman in all future Wizard of Oz productions, and the monster in Frankenstein goes to wall street.

[Stas1976]

Such talent could not stay for a long unattended.

I guess a line of government bureaucrats are already weighting giving this guy a government post. He might become a president adviser or Google can hire him to beat Microsoft.

Microsoft hired former Bear Sterns CEO Alan Schwartz to be a Steve Balmer financial adviser. Google has a chance to catch up.

[XOM]

Hahahaha, looks like Obama read that story about Thain's $1.2M office redecoration too...he seems less than enthused.

[XOM]

I'm loving the exposure this is getting in the media, here's a link to a slideshow listing some of the furnishings and what he spent on them.

[Mastajab]

Ken Lewis isn't gonna get fired, he's a good guy. People are just hating on him cuz the stock is down a lil.

[aiki14]

Originally Posted by Mastajab

Ken Lewis isn't gonna get fired, he's a good guy. People are just hating on him cuz the stock is down a lil.

Bet you a cheeseburger he's gone in less than 6 weeks.