A Wall Street source revealed to me that Stanley O'Neal, Merrill Lynch's (NYSE: CEO) $322 million ex-CEO, spent an enormous amount of time on the golf course while the markets were convulsing this August. In that pursuit, he is not alone -- according to the New York Times, James Cayne, CEO of The Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC), also spent August on the links.

As the New York Times has reported, O'Neal loves to golf -- he belongs to four country clubs -- and he has a 9 handicap. But in August 2007, O'Neal turned in 19 scorecards -- a fact which the source claimed was confirmed by the United States Golf Association. If he had played two rounds for each weekend in August, he would have turned in 16 cards -- but he played even more than that.

In case you've forgotten, in August the capital markets began to feel the effects of the subprime mortgage meltdown and they also started to get nervous about lending to private equity buyouts. Both of these businesses were key to O'Neal's risky bets that left him without a job yesterday. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Merrill's board is moving quickly to replace him -- so I am now doubting that it will take the time to rethink its strategy before picking a successor.

Merrill shareholders need to look out below.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned in this post.

Did Stanley O'Neal spend August golfing while Merrill burned? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.