John Thain Just Messing About Bonus, Flummoxed Over Ousting
Its hard to shake the disappointment associated with this weekend's Times piece on Bank of Amerillwide-- specifically, the graphic at left, which fails to pass the WWTPD (What Would The Post Do?) test. You know as well as I do that, at the very least, the Post would've had Lewis and Thain in a heart-shaped tub together, a ball gag off to the side for use later on, and an effete pinky sticking out of JT's grip on a champagne flute, the implication being J to the T is the woman. Nevertheless, there are a couple points of interest.
First, that Thain, who according to emails among senior execs at Bank of America never asked for a $10 million bonus, actually floated the idea for him to get a $40 million bonus. But he just threw it out there mostly as a joke to see if it'd get any bites, knowing all along the stiffs at BAC would probably shoot it down ("An internal debate with Mr. Thain over his bonus ensued; a person familiar with Mr. Thain's thinking said that a $40 million bonus was "never a subject of serious discussion.")
And then there's this:
Mr. Lewis, battered by analyst questions about the wisdom of the Merrill takeover, became disenchanted with Mr. Thain. In mid-January, he met with Mr. Thain at Merrill's downtown headquarters. After a five-minute meeting, Mr. Thain was out.
Furious, Mr. Thain paced the halls of Merrill, venting his frustration to at least two people. "I don't know how these people can run this company without me," he told them.
What the Times doesn't tell you is that, according to two sources, Mr Thain then went in to his locker, put on his singlet, and began shadow wrestling, calling out 'Lewis!' in a manner that made onlookers nervous for their safety, before being escorted from the building.
