Friday, October 26, 2007

Rumors Persist of O'Neal Ouster

You say one little thing - "let's merge with a bank!" - and the Board wants your head. The press is full of rumors this afternoon of the outster of Stan O'Neal as the head of Merrill Lynch.

Head of Retail Robert McCann is a possible successor, as well as Blackrock head Larry Fink and NYSE head John Thain.

The rumors started this morning when it was reported that O'Neal admitted he had misjudged the company's exposure to subprime mortgages. After all, the write offs were only eight billion dollars. Then he proposed a merger with a bank - turns out, it wasn't just a "bank" it was Wachovia. Can you imagine that, Merrill and Wachovia?

Apparently the Merrill Board couldn't imagine it either.

The fact that Merrill's employees are on track to be the worst paid on Wall Street isn't helping him any.

We will see if he survives the weekend.