Merrill CEO Thain seeking $10 million bonus

[dwbiggs]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28112397

NEW YORK - Merrill Lynch & Co Chief Executive John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million, but the battered company’s compensation committee is resisting his request, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.
The compensation committee has not reached a decision, but is leaning toward denying Thain and other senior executives bonuses for this year, the people told the paper.

Man....it would break my heart if this guy doesn't get his 10million dollar bonus. :(

[Teller]

*Stands by for outrage and thread length equalling/surpassing the Big Three thread*

[Duckus]

These people are insane. They live in a warped, deranged world. How could any CEO, for a company who is falling apart, think they deserve anything like 10 million dollars. Insane.

I am so glad that the board is thinking of rejecting it. They will get a big :cheers: if they follow through and do it.

[StillUnknown]

*Stands by for outrage and thread length equalling/surpassing the Big Three thread*

i'd settle for a thread length equalling the Obama smoking thread :silly:

[Bang]

Unbelievable gall.
The fact he requested it is bad enough, but the fact that the board didn't throw him out the second the words came out of his mouth is even more problematic.

"The compensation committee has not reached a decision, but is leaning toward denying Thain and other senior executives bonuses for this year,"

You have GOT to be kidding me. It's either a complete and total lack of any understanding of what they've done, or a complete and total lack of concern for anything other than their own unbelievable greed.

~Bang

[Corcaigh]

Who knows the actual story but the implication from the article is that he wants the $10M bonus for helping prevent the collapse of the company since September 15.

So the $10M would be for a two and a half month period and for doing a job that he is already paid multi-millions per year for.

Some might even think the job of the CEO is to avert taking your company to the brink of collapse in the first place, and NOT to expect a $10 million bonus for staving it of for a couple more months, after it's happened.

[Corcaigh]

He's withdrawn his request - but does he think he deserves it or not?

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/08/news/economy/Cuomo_Thain/index.htm?postversion=2008120817

By the way, he received a $15million signing bonus when he joined the firm late last year.

[dwbiggs]

By the way, he received a $15million signing bonus when he joined the firm late last year.

Unbelievable :doh:

[China]

Surely he deserves $10 million. After all his company only lost $11.67 billion. I mean, gee, some of the other financial firms went out of business completely, so he must be doing a bangup job. :rolleyes:

[SkinsHokieFan]

I really am nervous that there will be violence against people like him

[ECU-ALUM]

How bout 10 million kicks to the groin first and if he is still standing after that...then sure why not give him his 10 million dollar bonus.

[Zhouse]

Does he know the definition of a bonus and how it's earned?

[SkinInsite]

Maybe without this guy ML would have lost 30 Bil.

[Burgold]

It does make you question whether today's CEO's and some of our political elite are really the French Aristocrasy.

Having said that, I don't mind that much because I like cake.

[China]

I really am nervous that there will be violence against people like him

Who would know who he is? Could you pick him out of a lineup? It's not like he's famous like a celebrity or star athlete where everyone knows what he looks like.

[chow184]

someone should get a 10 dollar baseball bat and knock some sense into him.

[Corcaigh]

Surely he deserves $10 million. After all his company only lost $11.67 billion. I mean, gee, some of the other financial firms went out of business completely, so he must be doing a bangup job. :rolleyes:

Given that he "requested" this bonus presumably it's beyond his agreed compensation when he joined a year ago (and received his $15 million signing bonus).

So he thinks that only losing close to $12Billion is an achievement for he should be richly rewarded beyond what he agreed to in his employment contract.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Who would know who he is? Could you pick him out of a lineup? It's not like he's famous like a celebrity or star athlete where everyone knows what he looks like.

Google is your friend

[Corcaigh]

I really am nervous that there will be violence against people like him

Time to end the feudal privileges that Wall Street executives have enjoyed for too long.

[panel]

These people are insane. They live in a warped, deranged world. How could any CEO, for a company who is falling apart, think they deserve anything like 10 million dollars. Insane.

I am so glad that the board is thinking of rejecting it. They will get a big :cheers: if they follow through and do it.

Well, what if it is obvious that with out this CEO, the company would already be Bankrupt, or Collapesed?

Even though things are bad, doesn't mean they wouldn't be worse without him. We don't know, so we really can't judge.

[HOF44]

I think he was heard muttering leaving the board room, "let 'em eat cake!!" ;)

[Brad_Edwards_Fan]

A couple of people raise a valid point about "what if he did things that saved them x", meaning ML lost less because of him. I consider losses avoided the same thing as income, however i dont know that he should be rewarded the same way.

I dont know any of his history, but it seems like he was a recent enough hire that he may not of been the decision maker that led to all of their losses, so if he came in last year and tried to right the ship and ML lost less because of his leadership i think that is commendable, but probably not rewardable at this time.

To me, if he helped them minimize losses, it is a situation where he gets a little feather in his hat or some sort of IOU so that when the business turns around it is accounted for in future bonuses. But they have to realize (and it appears that they did too late), that the public is not going ot stomach a guy getting $10M in a year his company lost $11B regardless if he did something to cut losses or not.:2cents:

[panel]

There is a lot of hipocracy too, being a CEO isn't an easy job, it is hard work, and requires skill and talent. CEOs DO get paid alot, but the do a lot too. But they are not the only ones are not the only ones that get paid huge amounts of money.

Movie stars get paid ridiculous amounts too, but for some reason people feel better about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez making a combind $24.5 Million dollars on a movie that netted only $4Million.

I guess that people just like movie stars better than they like CEOs, but I think that CEOs contribute more to society than Movie stars.

[Corcaigh]

I guess that people just like movie stars better than they like CEOs, but I think that CEOs contribute more to society than Movie stars.

To use your analogy, in this case the "movie star" is asking for a $10million bonus more than he agreed to in the contract because the "film" didn't tank as badly as other failures.

[zoony]

Sounds like he wants the $10 milliion for coming in and negotiating the deal with BoA that saved the company from collapse. He was only made CEO after ML was on the brink of collapse.

I'm not saying he deserves it, but it's not as bad as it sounds.


That said, I'm glad we have a national dialogue going on about this stuff. It has spiralled out of control over the past 20 years. These executive types have simply lost touch with reality- which is probably why they're not very good executives.

This mindset has to end- and this is coming from someone who has been a staunch defender of the money these guys make.

[artmonkforHOF]

I understand where he is coming from. With a pair of balls that big, he would need tailors to adjust the inseam of all his pants, and that could easily reach $10 mill by the time it is all said and done.

[Duncan]

Stan O'Neal ruined the company. This guy was brought in and has done a decent job cleaning up the mess, but I agree it's pretty bad PR to ask for the bonus.

[hockeysc23]

Ok so he gets millions of dollars to do his job. Good for him. He probably deserves it seeing as how he saved the company a lot of money.

But a bonus when your company is still going down the tubes is retarded.

[Bang]

There is a lot of hipocracy too, being a CEO isn't an easy job, it is hard work, and requires skill and talent. CEOs DO get paid alot, but the do a lot too. But they are not the only ones are not the only ones that get paid huge amounts of money.
Movie stars get paid ridiculous amounts too, but for some reason people feel better about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez making a combind $24.5 Million dollars on a movie that netted only $4Million.

I guess that people just like movie stars better than they like CEOs, but I think that CEOs contribute more to society than Movie stars.
Comaring them to movie stars is idiotic. When was the last time i saw a Hollywood studio beg for a taxpayer bailout?
I'm going to go WAY out on a limb here and say that the anger and resentment towards these CEOs probably has something to do with the fact that people who work under these priveleged bastards lose their jobs while these clowns collect bonuses of 10s of millions of dollars that they begged Congress to give them. They cut every cost but their own when times are tough, and frankly, if times are tough, the buck stops at the top.

These guys may work, but the Big 3 CEOs have worked their companies into the ground.
You get rewarded for doing GOOD work. Not for ****ing things up beyond repair, not for having to come begging for taxpayer bailo9uts in their provate jets.

They simply don't get it. It's as painfully clear as it's ever going to get. these people believe they are a cut above, that they deserve everything while everyone else deserves to starve.

SHF says he fears violence against these people. I'd like to say I advocate it. I'm dead serious. These people have literally ruined good people's lives with their mismanagement and incompetence. And they want to be paid like a king for that job? They should be paid with a brick through their skull.

Yeah, they do a lot of work. They just suck at it, and the very idea that this guy will ask for that kind of bonus after begging us to bail him out is beyond ignorant. It's a slap in the face of every American.

We should slap back.
Hard.

~Bang