Stan O'Neal drama: Shakespeare, anyone?; CFO Edwards said to offer to quit; Will Merrill someday rue Stan's departure?....

• David Weider compares the Stan O'Neal drama to Shakespeare
• Merrill CEO Edwards is said to have offered to quit
• The Wall Street Journal discusses O'Neal's last big deal at Merrill -- negotiating the terms of his own exit, which could be worth upwards of $160 million including accumulated equity, retirement benefits and deferred compensation
• Why Merrill could someday "rue O'Neal's premature departure" - A comment by the FT's Abigail Hofman

DAVID WEIDNER'S WRITING ON THE WALL: Merrill's O'Neal Had It Coming, Enemies Say - Dow Jones via CNNMoney

OK, Shakespeare buffs, who does Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Stanley O'Neal most resemble?

Is it Julius Caesar, hated for his ambition? Is it Othello, driven mad by his jealousy of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) ? Is it King Lear, who ignores the daughter who loves him (retail brokerage) and is betrayed by the daughter he loves (structured subprime debt)?

O'Neal's is a classic tale. A nobody rises to the top, rules the kingdom and is ultimately brought down by the qualities that made him king in the first place. Recent executives who have followed that mythic path include Sandy Weill at American Express Co. (AXP) , Philip Purcell at Morgan Stanley (MS) and Maurice "Hank" Greenberg at American International Group Inc. (AIG) .....

Merrill Lynch CFO Edwards offered to quit: report - Reuters

Merrill Lynch & Co Inc Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Edwards offered to resign during the past week, CNBC reported on Tuesday, as the largest U.S. brokerage continues to struggle with the fallout from more than $8 billion of third-quarter write-offs.

Merrill's third-quarter loss, driven by exposure to mortgages and other securities that plunged in value this summer, has prompted a shakeout among executives responsible for the breakdown in managing investment and market ris....
 

O'Neal's Last Big Deal as Chief Executive: Determining the Terms of His Exit Package - Wall Street Journal

Despite expectations that Mr. O'Neal would step down from the Wall Street firm yesterday morning, the 56-year-old Merrill chief stayed in command as lawyers for the board and Mr. O'Neal tried to work out terms of an exit package that could exceed $160 million.

The $160 million estimate includes accumulated equity, retirement benefits and deferred compensation, according to an analysis done for The Wall Street Journal. Mr. O'Neal began negotiating the terms of his forced departure over the weekend in the wake of an $8.4 billion write-down announced last week.

Mr. O'Neal, also the company's chairman, could cash in exercisable stock options valued at $36.8 million based on yesterday's 4 p.m. price for Merrill shares of $67.42. The $160 million estimate also reflects the eventual vesting of 1.27 million restricted shares currently worth about $86 million plus $9.6 million from long-term performance awards. Merrill Lynch staffers may retain unvested stock grants "upon retirement" if their combined age and length of service equals at least 60 and they don't join a rival during the vesting period, its latest proxy statement says. In addition, the projected package includes retirement benefits that the proxy says were worth $24.8 million and $4.8 million in deferred compensation, both as of late last year....

Merrill may rue O'Neal's premature departure - Financial Times

Last week a Wall Street chief executive told me: “Chuck Prince, Citi’s chief executive, must be delighted by Merrill’s disastrous results. This takes all the focus off Prince.”

Merrill Lynch announced $8bn (€5.5bn) writedowns in its mortgage-backed business and a third-quarter net loss of $2.3bn (its largest quarterly loss). Merrill was criticised not only for poor risk management but for providing inadequate guidance about the size of the losses. Three weeks earlier, it had said it would take a $5bn writedown. Stan O’Neal, Merrill’s chairman and chief executive, became the focus for shareholder and board discontent and on Monday he seemed poised to step down.

I find it odd and odious that Mr O’Neal has been hounded from office while other chief executives linger on. At Citi, Mr Prince has presided over third-quarter fixed-income losses and a lacklustre share price performance; Bear Stearns, under James Cayne, has stumbled badly; and Ken Lewis, Bank of America’s chief executive, had the wrong people in charge of the investment banking division, where net income fell by $1.33bn in the third quarter....

Merrill Watch - New York Post

As Wall Street awaits word of who will replace soon-to-be ousted Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal in the wake of record losses at the investment bank, one name can already be crossed off the list: NYSE Euronext chief John Thain.

Sources said the former Goldman Sachs president was recently approached by the Merrill board's nominating committee, which is led by Florida real estate investor Armando Codina, but rebuffed the advances because he's not interested. Codina, according to The Wall Street Journal, is a major figure behind O'Neal's ouster.

Though Thain had been considered something of a long shot, his lack of interest highlights the challenges that Merrill is facing as it looks to replace O'Neal, who is expected to be sent packing soon.....