Thain resigns from Bank of America

Posted Jan 22nd 2009 2:15PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), Headline News

Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain has resigned from his post at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), not long after the consummation of a merger that threatens that company's very survival.

"Ken Lewis flew to New York today to talk to John" and "they mutually agreed that his situation was not working and he resigned," Bank of America spokesman Robert Stickler told The New York Times.

Ken Lewis was upset with Mr. Thain partly because the merger was a disaster and partly because he realized that Thain did not have a strong grasp of the company's operations. Worse, Thain had made earlier than planned bonus payments to Merrill Lynch employees shortly before the deal was done.

And all of this came before the news of Thain's wasteful spending on interior decor was made public.

There is one silver lining though. Bank of America's spokesman was honest enough to say that "things were not working out" instead of hiding behind the usual "He resigned to spend more time with his family and charitable endeavors."

Score one for transparency.

Tags: BAC, Bank of America, BankOfAmerica, John Thain, JohnThain, Merrill Lynch, MerrillLynch

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-25-2009 @ 12:24PM

thomas eisenberg said...

what about robert rubin at citigroup. Can shareholders sue these scammers personally. he was paid 100 million over the last 10 years to help drive down the stock 90%. Isn't this a ponzi scheme, take out shareholder money to pay executives crazy money. i just don't understand why the only punishment is they get fired, what about going after the crazy money thee executives where paid, clawback provisions, call it whatever. Are we no better than russian or brazil or any other 3rd world meritocracy. Yes i'm jealous but i'm also practical. this is public money from shareholders being doled out by a few friends , called board members. ie dick fuld at lehman,\ anybody interested in arranging a street protest and getting our congressman involved in nyc , where these crooked firms are located. Why didn't obama have stronger comments about Thain's bathroom indulgences, how can the stock market get back on track if small investors like myself think the system is rigged. Help!! any ideas email me tlenyc@gmail.com. let's start street protests, so we can get the cnbc crews to get us on tv and get action for clawback provisions. The merril friends, montag and kraus are allowed to keep their 20 million each, where is jesse jackson and al sharpton when we need them. protest. let me know and we will organize. thanks tom eisenberg