Its Amazing....

[The Dad Fisherman]

Guy runs the company into the ground so that it has to be taken over to survive....and feels he should be rewarded for it....I want one of these jobs.

Merrill's Thain seeking 2008 bonus of $10 million: report

(Reuters) – Merrill Lynch & Co Chief Executive John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million, but the battered company's compensation committee is resisting his request, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

The compensation committee has not reached a decision, but is leaning toward denying Thain and other senior executives bonuses for this year, the people told the paper.

Merrill could not be immediately reached for comment.

Shareholders on Friday approved Bank of America Corp's takeover of Merrill, a deal fraught with risk but one that would create a banking giant with a leading position in almost every major area of the financial system.

Merrill was arguably saved from extinction when it agreed to merge on September 15, an hour before Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy. The fear was that Merrill could be next if shareholders and trading partners fled, as many did at Lehman and the former Bear Stearns Cos.

Thain has said he deserves a bonus because he helped avert what could have been a much larger crisis at the firm, people familiar with his thinking told the WSJ.

Members of Merrill's compensation committee agree with Thain that the takeover is in shareholders' best interest, but believe it would be foolish to ignore strong public sentiment against large compensation packages, the paper said, citing people familiar with their thinking.

Committee members are also weighing the fact that other Wall Street firms, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which did better than Merrill this year, are not giving out bonuses to top executives, the paper said.

Thain, who became Merrill's chief executive after losses in mortgage-related investments led to the October 2007 ouster of Stanley O'Neal, has also run NYSE Euronext, after a long career at Goldman.

After the Bank of America-Merrill deal is completed, he will run the merged company's global banking, securities and wealth management businesses. Thain will not be joining Bank of America's board.

[FishermanTim]

On the news last night they commented that the company will probably nix his request for the bonus, and ALL the other CEO's bonuses as well.
That would be great, and this POS should have to explain to his fellow dead-weights about "their" lack of bonuses.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of do-nothing executives that don't give a rat's a$$ about the hundreds / thousands of employees that have been screwed, as long as he/they get their perks.

Remember that textile company a few years back that burned down?
The owner of the company rebuilt and continued paying employee salaries out of his own pockets in the interum.
Where the hell are those types of leaders now?
It appears that they've all been replaced with greedy, good-for-nothing lumps of pig swill that are more concerned with their own personal gains than the stability of the company.

Hopefully, justice and civility will prevail.