John Thain: Sacked! or Sach'd?

As reported earlier by Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism, it has recently been revealed that Merrill Lynch and John Thain accelerated the payment of substantial executive bonuses just prior to the company's crash, and their acquisition by BofA.

Merril Lynch: Infamia!

Perhaps the disclosure of substantial undisclosed losses was the last straw (18 billion versus 2 billion expected). You can take big bonuses, but not with big losses, unless you are at the-former-investment-bank-which-must-not-be-named, whose SIV is the Federal Reserve.

Bloomberg
Ex-Merrill Lynch CEO Thain Agrees to Leave Bank of America
By Josh Fineman and David Mildenberg

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Former Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive Officer John Thain agreed to leave Bank of America Corp., a spokesman said.

Thain, who in September negotiated the sale of Merrill with Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis, “agreed his situation was not working out and that he should resign,” said Robert Stickler, a Bank of America spokesman, in an e-mail.

Trading chief Tom Montag will also leave the firm, CNBC reported.

Thain, 53, lost his job after Merrill’s unexpectedly large $15.4 billion fourth-quarter loss forced Bank of America to return to the U.S. government for a new funding package. Thain this year spent $1.2 million to redecorate his office at New York-based Merrill, CNBC reported today.

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.