After taking over Merrill last December, Thain is positioned to receive
$11 million on the vesting of free shares if he leaves after the deal
closes, according to Bloomberg. An even sweeter deal is in store for
Montag, who after joining in August, is set to collect $30 million in
accelerated stock awards and $6.4 million in options if he loses his
job or has his responsibilities reduced after a change of control. Bank
of America is likely to keep the superstar trader right where he is
after the takeover, especially after shelling out the $39 million bonus
Montag is guaranteed in January.
To be sure there will be job losses at both Merrill and Bank of America. The Deal's Lisa Lee writes:
the two firms clearly overlap in several areas, including in investment banking services such as fixed income, leveraged finance and equities. One banker at another firm said a Merrill person is most likely to head the investment banking unit after the merger. "Bank of America bankers are more nervous," the source said.
Merrill has been beefing up its ranks this year. The investment bank recently hired George "Woody" Young III as global head of
technology, media and telecommunications investment banking. And a week before adding Young, Merrill hired Michael Nierenberg from
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to head the global mortgages and
securitized products businesses, and James De Mare from Citigroup Inc.
was added to run the company's mortgage trading operations. - George White
See Bloomberg story
See Crisis on Wall Street Dealwatch
See Dealscape post on Merrill's stars
See story on Merrill culture on TheDeal.com
For more Movers & shakers see The Deal newsweekly's dealmaker section
Comments
The obscene golden parachutes provided for the men who have run their companies into the ground and are coming up with millions of dollars while the employees of these same companies are losing their jobs and probably their retirements MUST stop! This type of insanity has to stop. The good old boys certainly do look out for each other, don't they? NO CEO is worth that kind of money -- nobody is worth that kind of money!!!