Why You Read EPJ

We're way ahead of the pack, again.

Floyd Norris at NYT writes today:

A few weeks ago, John Thain took a lot of heat for having asked for a $10 million bonus for his work running Merrill Lynch, whose stock price plunged during his tenure before he sold it to Bank of America. He backed down and did not get the money.

Now we hear that B of A is in line to get a big infusion of money from the government, along with a guarantee of values of dubious assets. Much of the problem is said to come from dicey Merrill assets.

If it really is Merrill assets that are cratering now, Mr. Thain earned that bonus, and more, in getting the company sold before the problems became this bad.

Four months ago, back in September of '08, we wrote:

Thain probably deserves his exit pay more than anyone else during the current financial crisis. Merrill is supposed to be the next Lehman and somehow Thain is able to sell Merrill for $29 per share? Not only does Thain deserve the $25 million, Merrill shareholders should chip in to make a bronze statute of Thain and plant it in front of the NYSE.