Merrill Lynch CEO "Nothing Happened In The World Or The Economy" That Justifies Suspending Bonuses

You know how Merrill Lynch recently lost $15 billion? Remember how we're in a unbelievably huge global financial crisis that threatens to unravel the fabric of our economy? John Thain says that's no reason not to pay billions of dollars in bonuses.

NY AG Andrew Cuomo is seeking to force John Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch, to release the names of the Merrill executives who shared over $3.6 billion in bonuses before the merger with Bank of America. Thain is refusing, and said this about the bonuses:

"Bonuses were determined based upon the performance and the retention of people, and there is nothing that happened in the world or the economy that would make you say that those were not the right thing to do for the retention and the reward of the people who were performing," Thain said, according to the transcript.

Mr. Cuomo's office recently released information that suggests that Merrill Lynch may have moved up the bonuses in order to pass the cost on to tax payers, and claims that the bonuses were not spread evenly throughout the organization — but were structured in such a way as to enrich the top Merrill executives. Cuomo says that the top four bonus recipients received a combined $121 million, and that 696 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more.

Cuomo said the bonuses were set Dec. 8 and not adjusted later when it turned out pretax losses were $7 billion more than expected. Merrill reported Jan. 16 that it lost $15.31 billion in the fourth quarter and $27 billion for the year.

Thain was dismissed in January by Bank of America chief executive officer Kenneth D. Lewis. The move came after disclosure of the bonuses and Merrill's unexpectedly large fourth-quarter loss.

Full Article Here

wow ... i consider this pretty hard proof as to why our economy is how it is ... i'm glad he is no longer in charge, but still what is there to justify this statement .... greed? *sigh*

[edit on 25-2-2009 by baseball101]

Starred and flagged. Bonuses are for exemplary behavior. They should not be given for running a company into the dirt. And they should never be paid to employees of a company accepting a government bailout. I would love to see John Thain set upon by villagers with torches and pitchforks. Villagers who have lost their houses and jobs and life savings.

The recipients of these bonuses do not see it this way.

They feel 'entitled' to the bonuses. They feel that not getting their bonuses would be 'unfair'.

Does anyone beside me want to vomit in their hat?

I think its because in thier little world nothing HAS changed.
They are still greedy and they are still sucking the life out of everything.
They will only say no bonuses when there is no bonus money to give...or they will just sucker the people for more bonus money.
In an ideal world we could pull a Mussolini on their greedy butts and drag them through the streets.

John Thain - we will remember you! When the very last fortunes of the masses have vanished and poverty runs rampant through the former middle-class, it will be YOU, John Thain, that get's dragged into the public square and hung for all to witness. You and your ilk will hang by your necks until the slow choking of justice has been delivered! May a pox befall your house, a**hole!!!

I agree to most points posted in response. What stuns me though is the sheer number of people that received over 1 million dollars! Over 650 people! That's astounding. Are there truly that many people in that company that make that much money to justify a million dollar bonus? Holy crap I joined the wrong career path. Then again, my moral compass would not have allowed me to stay in that industry long.

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
I think its because in thier little world nothing HAS changed.
They are still greedy and they are still sucking the life out of everything.
They will only say no bonuses when there is no bonus money to give...or they will just sucker the people for more bonus money.
In an ideal world we could pull a Mussolini on their greedy butts and drag them through the streets.

Actually, they will only say no bonus NEVER. They LOST 15 BILLION DOLLARS and still gave out those bonuses! To them it is purely about robbing the people and trying to get away with it again. Actually, they KNOW they will get away with it like they have been for many many years now.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


It would be nice to do that to these people, but lucky for them this is America and we just give them more money to blow by bailing them out.

What blows my mind the most about this is ...

"Bonuses were determined based upon the performance

ermmm.........their performance SUCKED! otherwise how did the company "loose" over 27 BILLION dollars for the year (15.31 billion in the fourth quarter alone!!!)

omg, 1 mil+ for doing a sucky job