About John Thain
John Alexander Thain (born May 26, 1955) is an American businessman, investment banker, and currently chairman and CEO of the CIT Group.
Thain was the last chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch before its merger with Bank of America. He was designated to become president of global banking, securities, and wealth management at the newly combined company, but resigned on January 22, 2009. Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, reportedly forced Thain to step down after several controversies, such as the losses at Merrill Lynch which proved to be far larger than previously estimated, and the award of huge executive bonuses.
Career
Before he came to Merrill, Thain had been the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange from January 2004 to December 2007. He also worked at Goldman Sachs, as head of its mortgage securities division from 1985 to 1990, and president and co-chief operating officer from 1999 to 2004.
Thain was expected to be president of global banking, securities and wealth management, a new division at Bank of America, to oversee its corporate and investment bank and most of wealth management business.[
Compensation
Upon joining Merrill Lynch, Thain received a $15 million signing bonus. The firm announced that Thain would receive at least $50 million a year and could be paid as much as $120 million a year, based on the company's stock price. The Associated Press identified Thain, who received $83.1 million, as one of the best paid executives of S&P 500 companies in 2007. In that year, Thain earned a total compensation of $83,785,021, which included a base salary of $750,000, a cash bonus of $15,000,000, stock grant of $33,013,151, and options grant of $35,017,421
Thain suggested to the directors that he receive a bonus in 2008 of as much as $10 million, because he "saved Merrill" by selling it off to Bank of America.
It was revealed on January 22, 2009 that Thain spent $1.22 million of corporate funds in early 2008...
