Ken Lewis's Great Idea Pad Sells For $3.15 Million

They said it couldn't be done. They said it didn't matter if it was $4.5 million or $2.5 million or if they were giving it away. They said potentials buyers wouldn't be swayed by the pitch to "sleep where Angelo Mozilo hath slept, after a few too many troughs of Boone's farm" (AKA "The Mozilo Bedroom"), or to impress guests with the cocktail party fodder that "that chair you're sitting in right now the very one Ken Lewis was sitting in when he decided to buy Merrill Lynch, can't get better investing karma than that." They said the vomit stains on the rug would not be a selling point. They were wrong.
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They said it couldn't be done. They said it didn't matter if it was $4.5 million or $2.5 million or if they were giving it away. They said potentials buyers wouldn't be swayed by the pitch to "sleep where Angelo Mozilo hath slept, after a few too many troughs of Boone's farm" (AKA "The Mozilo Bedroom"), or to impress guests with the cocktail party fodder that "that chair you're sitting in right now the very one Ken Lewis was sitting in when he decided to buy Merrill Lynch, can't get better investing karma than that." They said the vomit stains on the rug would not be a selling point. They were wrong.

Lewis, the retired CEO of Charlotte-based Bank of America, and his wife, Donna, sold his home in January to Jarrod and Frederique Daniel of Atlanta for $3.15 million, according to property records. Jarrod Daniel has worked as a plastic surgeon in Atlanta and at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., according to an Internet search. The Lewis home originally listed for sale at $4.5 million in January 2010, just days after Lewis handed the reins of the company to now-CEO Brian Moynihan. Lewis remained a Charlotte resident, purchasing a luxury townhouse in Myers Park. The Morrocroft home (see photos here) is described in a real estate listing as an "exquisite custom home on a very private lot" with his and her’s dressing rooms, luxurious bathrooms, chef’s kitchen with paneled walls, a three-car garage and formal gardens. The home was designed by architects Ken Pursley and Ruard Veltman and custom-built for the Lewises by Whitlock Builders in 2003.

Lewis reduced the price four times. He took it off the market last summer, then listed the home again in August with a new Realtor, SouthPark's HM Properties. It had been listed with CottinghamChalkHayes. When Lewis first listed the home for sale, The Wall Street Journal reported the house had been the site where Lewis and ex-Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain first discussed selling Merrill to BofA.

Former BofA CEO Ken Lewis sells Charlotte home for $3.15M [BizJournals]
Earlier: Sleep Where Ken Lewis Hath Slept

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No One Told Ken Lewis Shareholders Needed To Know About Merrill's Massive Losses, Okay?

Remember in 2008, when Ken Lewis was all, “Oooh, wait, I don’t know about this Merrill Lynch thing, it looks kinda bad, I don’t think I want to buy it anymore, I’m nervous [bites nails, shifts weight from one foot to the other like he has to pee]” and tried to back out of the deal? And Hank Paulson threatened to stuff him in a meat locker if he did so Lewis said okay, fine, I’ll buy it and then did, without mentioning anything to shareholders about Merrill's impending losses? Well 1) People are still upset about it but 2) Ken was under the impression shareholders were on a need to know basis. Top executives at Bank of America Corp did not tell shareholders just prior to a 2008 vote on its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co that losses were mounting and expected to weigh down earnings for years, papers filed in private shareholder litigation show. But the bank and former Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said in their own court papers that they should not be liable to shareholders who claimed to have lacked information they needed to vote on the once $50 billion merger. Lewis also said he had been advised by the bank's law firm and chief financial officer that no disclosure was necessary. No further questions. BofA masked Merrill loss before 2008 vote: filings [Reuters]