Thain Out

Excerpt:  After days of withering criticism over the Merrill deal and the losses at the company, Bank of America top brass met this morning about John Thain’s fate at the company.  Thain is out.  Ken Lewis should be next.

Here’s how Lewis tries to pass the buck in the WSJ: [subscription required]

Bank of America had lost confidence in Mr. Thain, this person said, after Mr. Lewis learned of mounting fourth-quarter losses at Merrill from the transition team handling the Bank of America-Merrill merger rather than from Mr. Thain himself. And when Mr. Lewis asked Mr. Thain what happened, the Bank of America CEO did not get a "good explanation for what was happening and why," this person said.

The Bank of America CEO also concluded Mr. Thain has exercised "poor judgment" on a number of fronts. He left for a vacation in Vail, Colo., after the losses came to light, bonus payments at Merrill were accelerated so they could be collected before the end of the year and Mr. Thain had planned to fly this week to Davos, Switzerland, even though Bank of America had signaled that such a trip was not a good idea, this person said.

More here.

Not to mention, "Amidst everything else going on at Bank of America (BAC) and its boneheaded decision to buy dying Merrill Lynch, Gasparino reports, for the Daily Beast, that John Thain had a ridiculous amount spent on his own perks, including a redecorating of his office."…Joe Weisenthal’s updates in $1.2 Million Spent To Redecorate Thain’s Office.