- Former CEO of Merrill Lynch!
- Graduate of (wait for it...) Harvard Business School!
- Known for firing people who disagreed with him!
- Despised by Merrill's rank and file!
- Called "a mean person, a disrespectful person" who "drove out thousands of years of experience" by a former Merrill EVP!
- Bet the farm on subprime mortgage market growth!
- Acquired subprime lending junkie First Financial in 2006 -- the peak of the housing bubble!
- 2006 compensation: $48 million!
- Forecast a subprime-related loss of $3 billion for Q3 2007!
- Two weeks later, Merrill announced an actual writedown of $8 billion!
- While his bank's balance sheet was crumbling, somehow managed to squeeze in more than a few rounds of golf!
- 2007 compensation: $46 million!
- Relieved of his position after trying to sell Merrill to Wachovia -- without the approval of the Merrill board!
- Left with a $160 million golden parachute -- the biggest ever!
- In late 2008, a deeply distressed Merrill was acquired by Bank of America!
- Idiot!
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In early 2008 he joined the board at Alcoa. I suppose he will provide invaluable insight for the compensation committee.
ReplyDeleteDon't be surprised if characters like O'Neal, Prince and Fuld are successful in efforts to rehabilitate their images. I understood that they are engaging some prominent PR firms for that purpose. America is after all a plutocracy.