"Already the revisionists are out trying to tarnish O’Neal’s achievements. He still has many enemies from the way he ruthlessly removed the Merrill old guard when he became CEO. Now they see a chance for revenge." More on Stan O'Neal
The CEO suites of Wall Street have their first vacancy sign since the world learnt what sub-prime means. While others such as Jimmy Cayne at Bear Stearns and Chuck Prince at Citi hang on for dear life, Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O’Neal has been forced to bite the bullet.Rightly so. Any individual who, until recently, held the titles of chairman, CEO and president has the right to the glory of success, but has to carry the can when things go wrong. And they don’t get much worse than a $8.4 billion write-down in one quarter. Merrill became the leading CDO underwriter under O’Neal’s watch, and he sanctioned the purchase of mortgage...
