Bloomberg:
John Thain, the former chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch & Co. who was accused of overspending on an office renovation as the broker teetered, said he should have bought less-expensive furniture at Ikea.
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Yeah - maybe you should have you arrogant piece of junk! Instead, you spend our freakin' money on a bathroom that cost more than most of us spent on our homes. Gee, what could be wrong with that?
Thain has never bought and will never buy at IKEA
Leave it to a soulless, snarky CEO to go all victim and poor-mouthed and whine about wishing he had gone to IKEA. You know, Mr. Thain, for many responsible Americans, IKEA is not a comedown, but a good value for their dollar. Something you're unfamiliar with.
Thain and all these CEO's remind me of what I have read about he aristocracy of France prior to the Revolution there. They lived lavishly on the backs of the people who did the work, were corrupt, greedy, and cared absolutely nothing for the people of France. France corrected that with a few chop chops.
Tell me that this does not describe Thain and the others at Goldman, AIG, Countrywide, IndyMac, City, JPMorgan, Lehman, Chase, and all the rest.
My thoughts exactly, and I could not have expressed them better myself, thanks.
"I look intelligent with small specs."
I'm sorry but Thain should be living in a small room without windows which has been decorated by the Federal Penitentary unit.
yeah!
Um, ya think?
Shoulda but didna.
The truth is, he'd have fired anyone who suggested Ikea at the time. His intent was to show off and out-do all the other CEOs in his class, because that's the game he set out to play when he chose that career path.
Furnish it with crocodile tears, jaggoff.
He may have academic brain with corporate politic player, but no... "life" sense...
I am not a defender of John Thain. I think the fiasco with his office furnishings was a prime example not of corporate greed but being perpetually focused on the wrong things and at the wrong time. However, it is a mistake to lay a disproportionate share of blame on him for Merrill's failure.
Why? Because Mr. Thain took over after the board ousted his predecessor, Stanley O'Neal. It was Mr. O'Neal's actions that sealed Merrill's fate. By the time Thain took over, the market was already in trouble and I doubt that much of anything could have been done to keep Merrill independent. As the crash accelerated, Thain did what he had to do and sold the firm. An argument could be made that he performed better than Dick Fuld of Lehman who refused to sell until they were finished.
So if you are going to be angry at someone, don't exclude Thain. I wasn't there but I doubt he did all he could. But it was Stanley O'Neal who, in an effort to chase Goldman Sachs, took on too much leverage and killed the chances of the firm being able to survive independently.
I hear you, but the company was in deep crisis...
It is not the time to do extravagant work as he was doing...
Corporate image is one... but need not to be done in such manner...
Investors will understand... and be more empathetic...
Agreed. Like I said, wrong focus, wrong time.
John Thain needed to retire, offer his apologies and refuse any renumeration (atonement) for his mis-management of Merrill-Lynch, the excessive risks, bribing ratings agencies, assuring investors those toxic instruments were "guaranteed" knowing there was no capital to cover losses, and afterward, sent to a maximum security prison.
What he and the other CEO's on Wall St. did to this nation's and the world's economies, the untold billions in losses people suffered, those who lost homes, jobs, benefits, equity, their savings, is the greatest thievery of all time. Some poor kid who steals a TV gets hard time, but these crooks all got bonuses in the millions. Who says crime doesn't pay?
Any bleeding hearts who feel it's unconstitutional to limit CEO pay, or their crimes were not violent should first ask the victims of those predatory loans, those who lost jobs-benefits, the rest who've seen their equity and savings wiped out, or the business owners who've lost revenues, and those who can't get credit (even with pristine FICO scores). This was a grand assault on our nation's financial institutions, and every bit as illegal as was the manipulation of energy prices by Enron.
John Thain's House....
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/41035/view/?service=1
B#tch is still living in style
Rather, I wonder how much he spends "on" beauty products.
I wonder how much he spends of beauty products.
By the looks of him nada
Stick him in a prison cell and decorate his cell with pink boa feathers.
See where that lands him.
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First Posted: 09-18-09 10:01 PM | Updated: 09-18-09 10:05 PM