Merrill Lynch paid billions of dollars of bonuses to its employees, three days before completing its life-saving sale to Bank of America, reports the Financial Times.
The money was paid as Merrill's losses were mounting, forcing Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis last month to seek additional government support for the deal. Merrill's compensation committee agreed to pay bonuses on December 29, at least one month earlier than usual, the paper said.
Bank of America said Merrill had a $21.5 billion operating loss in the fourth quarter. Despite the massive losses, Merrill set aside $15 billion for 2008 compensation, 6% lower than a year earlier. About $3 billion to $4 billion of that compensation were annual bonuses.
And then there's the egregious fop who ran this castle, John Thain:
John Thain spent $1.22 million of Merrill's money to refurbish his office. Thain's largest expense was the hiring of celebrity designer Michael Smith for $800,000. This is the same guy who is currently redesigning the White House for the Obama family for only $100,000. Thain had Merrill pay that designer $700,000 more for the redesign of only his office. Again, are you kidding me?
rest at http://eideard.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/let-em-eat-cake-still-rules-on-wall-street/
No comments:
Post a Comment