Last year, Merrill Lynch's John Thain was the highest paid chief executive at a public company in the North East corridor stretching from Washington DC to Boston, according to the Associated Press.
Thain took over as CEO and chairman of Merrill in December, after record-breaking losses forced Stan O'Neal out of the corner office. According to the AP study, Thain took home $83 million in salary, bonus, benefits and perks last year. Although Thain only joined Merrill Lynch in December and was paid a base salary of $57,000, his compensation was boosted by a $15 million cash signing bonus, plus restricted stock and stock options, that Merrill paid to him when he agreed to leave the New York Stock Exchange. Much of that compensation, however, is tied up in incentive pay that Thain won't be able to access for several years. And those options won't do him much good if Merrill's stock price doesn't recover.
Lloyd Blankfein, the chief of Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley's John Mack also made the list of top earner. The rest of the list is after the jump.
1. John Thain of Merrill Lynch & Co.: $83 million
2. Leslie Moonves of CBS Corp.: $67.6 million
3. Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs Group: $54 million
4. Kenneth Chenault of American Express Co.: $51.7 million
5. John Mack of Morgan Stanley: $41.7 million
Posted by guest , Jun 27, 2008 2:12PM
what is the strike on thains options?
Posted by guest , Jun 27, 2008 2:22PM
Maybe Thain should just lay himself off.
Posted by guest , Jun 27, 2008 2:28PM
thain is a joke. he has no clue what he is doing.
Posted by guest , Jun 27, 2008 2:49PM
What about salaries of other CEO's? (Citi Group,UBS,JP Morgan,Blackstone etc.)
Posted by guest , Jun 27, 2008 3:09PM
Much of that compensation, however, is tied up in incentive pay that Thain won't be able to access for several years. And those options won't do him much good if Merrill's stock price doesn't recover.
That's the way it should be. Though the last couple years have shown that a company's stock price isn't the best indicator of a company's long term prospects. At least not until it drops to two dollars.
Posted by onetwo , Jun 27, 2008 4:13PM
2007 Stock Returns (bonus):
MER: -42% (83m)
CBS: -13% (68m)
GS: +8% (54m)
AXP: -14% (52m)
MS: -35% (42m)
--------------
SPX (DRI): 5.5%
Way to create shareholder value, boys!
Posted by guest , Jun 27, 2008 4:49PM
Merrill strategy for saving money:
Hire high school grads for "quant" positions!
There is atleast one documented case of that. Someone posted the other day re. EEOC law suit against Merrill Lynch!
Posted by guest , Jun 27, 2008 7:04PM
thains option strikes are in the ballpark of 65 in january, 85 next january, 100 two years out ... if that's not right, then it's close to right ...
Posted by guest , Jun 28, 2008 7:38AM
Anybody see the Gasbag take his typical cheap shot at a Wall Street CEO yesterday. Thain this time. I know most of you turn the mute button when he comes on but this one was unusually rude. No wonder no one on Wall Street will talk to this guy and he has to get all his info from the Mike Mayo analysts of the street. I found this great post on a related article. Enjoy. What a fucking dope.
Posted by guest, Jun 26, 2008 10:53PM
Gasbagarumor is little more than an outlet for Mike Mayo. Not a bad source. The problem is that he understands little of what Mayo tells him (even if MM repeats it 50 times). Why you ask? Because he lacks an understanging of the basic concepts of finance (he can barely add) and has the oratorical skills of Vinny the Legbreaker ("Alls yous guys gots ta do is let me cut you off in the da middle of yur comment"). BTW - when did beating a press release of public information by 30 seconds become "breaking" news. Me thinks he breaketh wind not news!
Posted by guest, Jun 27, 2008 12:59AM
that guy is the mother of all morons. look at his track record and you'll see that what he's got to say is horseshit.
Posted by guest, Jun 27, 2008 7:25AM
Companies regularly time their information embargos to the media to end just before the press release so that the TV media can start reporting it immediately.
Just saying.