Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
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| Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. | |
| |
| Founded | 1914 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | NY headquarters, offices in 38 countries |
| Key People | John Thain, CEO & chairman |
| Employees | 61,900 |
| Products | financial services |
| Web site | www.ml.com |
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. is a global investment bank with offices in 38 countries and territories and stated total client assets of approximately $1.7 trillion. Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) provides capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, asset management, insurance, banking and related products and services on a global basis.
In September of 2008, Bank of America Corp. agreed to acquire Merrill Lynch in a $50 billion deal that would create a global financial-services company. Under terms of the transaction, B of A would exchange 0.8595 shares of its common stock for each Merrill Lynch common share.[1]
Contents |
Company Snapshot
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Merrill Lynch's almost household name over the years has been synonymous with finance and brokerage. It claims over 16,000 brokers in its global sales force.
In the 1970s, Merrill Lynch emphasized its market position with an advertising campaign featuring a thundering herd of bulls, using the advertising line, "Merrill Lynch is bullish on America." Interesting, however, is that as bullish on America as they might have been, it was once rumored that the campaign was filmed in Mexico.
History
Like other financial firms of its generation, Merrill Lynch's name has gone through a number of iterations over its long history. Originally established by Charles Merrill in 1914 as Charles E. Merrill & Co., Edmund Lynch joined a few months after the company's founding, and the name was changed to Merrill, Lynch & Co. in 1915.
In 1940, the firm merged with E. A. Pierce & Co. and Cassatt & Co. and was briefly known as Merrill Lynch, E. A. Pierce, and Cassatt. Fenner & Beane was acquired in 1941, and the name became Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane. In 1957, the name changed to Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a name it held for a number of years.
In 1973, the holding company Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., was created, with the operating subsidiary continuing to operate as Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith.
Products and Services
- Securities origination, brokerage, dealer and related activities in: equities, futures, fixed income, forwards, mutual funds, commodities, swaps, currencies, options and other derivatives.
- Investment banking: Securities origination and strategic advisory services (which include mergers and acquisitions, strategic valuation and other corporate finance and advisory activities).
- Private equity and other principal investing activities
- Securities clearance, settlement, financing and services, including prime brokerage
- Wealth management products and services, including financial, retirement and generational planning
- Banking, trust, lending and related services, including: mortgage loans, trusts, commercial loans, deposit-taking, securities-based loans and cash management.
- Insurance and annuity products and annuity underwriting
- Investment management and investment advisory services
- Global investment research encompassing: equities, economics, fixed income, equity strategy, equity-linked securities and weath-management strategies.
- BlackRock: Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management companies with more than $1 trillion in assets under management
News
- On Jan. 17, 2008, Merrill Lynch reported the worst quarter in the company's history - about $16 billion in mortgage-related writedowns and adjustments. Merrill's fourth-quarter net loss was $9.8 billion, or $12.01 a share, compared to year-ago profit of $2.3 billion, or $2.41 a share.[2]
- On Nov. 14, 2007, John Thain, former NYSE head, was named to replace O'Neal. At the end of October of 2007, Stan O'Neal, former chairman of the board and CEO for Merrill Lynch stepped down, leaving Alberto Cribiore, managing partner and founder of Brera Capital, a global private equity firm as interim non-executive chairman.[3] At the beginning of December, Thain pulled Nelson Chai, his former chief financial officer at NYSE Euronext, over to Merrill Lynch as executive vice-president and chief financial officer.[4]
- In late Oct. 2007, Stan O'Neal, chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch stepped down/retired from his post, after the firm revealed subprime-related losses of $7.9 billion.[5] [6]
- News reports over a number of weeks in October 2007 indicated that Stan O'Neal, board chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch, may step down.[7]
- Merrill Lynch in the second quarter of 2007 reported net revenues of $9.7 billion, with total stockholder equity of $41 billion. However, according to a Merrill Lynch press release from Oct. 24, 2007, "Third quarter 2007" (ended Sept. 28, 2007) "total net revenues of $577 million decreased 94% from $9.8 billion in the prior-year period and were down 94% from the $9.7 billion in the second quarter of 2007." This was reportedly the biggest quarterly loss in Merrill Lynch's history.[8]
- A press release issued by Merrill Lynch on Oct. 23, 2007, indicated that the firm had topped the annual Barron's survey of top wealth managers in the U.S., with the most in assets under management for individual clients with accounts of $1 million or more.[9]
Key People
Senior Management as of Nov. 14, 2007:
| John Thain | Chief Executive Officer (effective Dec. 1, 2007) |
| Rosemary Berkery | Vice Chairman and General Counsel |
| Ahmass Fakahany | President and Chief Operating Officer |
| Gregory J. Fleming | President and Chief Operating Officer |
| Robert J. McCann | President of the Global Wealth Management Group |
| Jason Brand | President of Merrill Lynch Pacific Rim |
| Candace Browning | President of Merrill Lynch Global Research |
| Samuel R. Chapin | Vice Chairman, Executive Client Coverage Group |
| Damian Chunilal | Chief Operating Officer, Merrill Lynch Pacific Rim, Head of Pacific Rim Investment Banking and Head of Pacific Rim Private Investment Banking Group |
| Rohit D'Souza | Head of Global Equities and Americas Global Markets, Global Markets & Investment Banking; Head of Global Alternative Investments |
| Nelson Chai | Executive VP/Chief Financial Officer |
| H. McIntyre (Mac) Gardner | Head of Americas Region and Global Bank Group, Global Wealth Management |
| Tsunehiro Nakayama | Chairman, Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Company, Ltd., and Vice Chairman, Merrill Lynch International |
| Victor Nesi | Private Equity for Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Global Markets & Investment Banking |
| Andrea Orcel | Head of Global Origination and President of EMEA, Global Markets & Investment Banking |
| James B. Quigley | Vice Chairman, Executive Client Coverage Group; Chairman of Merrill Lynch International and Head of Latin America Global Markets & Investment Banking |
| Diane L. Schueneman | Head of Global Infrastructure Solutions |
| John P. Sievwright | Chief Operating Officer of International |
| David Sobotka | Head of of Fixed Income, Currencies & Commodities |
| Daniel C. Sontag | Head of Americas Client Relationship Group, Global Wealth Management |
| Nathan C. Thorne | President, Global Private Equity, Global Markets & Investment Banking |
| Bob Wigley | Chairman, Europe, Middle East & Africa |
| Jason Wright | Head of Communications & Public Affairs |
| Raymundo Yu | Chairman, Asia Pacific Region |
Registration
- MERRILL LYNCH PIERCE FENNER & SMITH - NFA ID: 0001062
References
- ↑ Bank of America agrees to buy Merrill Lynch. Phoenix Business Journal. Retrieved on September 15, 2008.
- ↑ "Merrill Posts Worst Quarter in its History,” 1/17/08. Yahoo!News. Retrieved on January 20, 2008.
- ↑ "Merrill Taps NYSE's Thain as CEO”. www.wsj.com. Retrieved on November 15, 2007.
- ↑ "Ex-NYSE colleague joins Thain at Merrill”. Money Central. Retrieved on December 4, 2007.
- ↑ "O’Neal Among a String of Senior Departures". Financial Times of London". Retrieved on November 2, 2007.
- ↑ "Stan O’Neal Retires From Merrill Lynch; Alberto Cribiore to Serve as Interim Non-Executive Chairman and Chair Search Committee". Merrill Lynch. Retrieved on October 30, 2007.
- ↑ "At Merrill, the rise of E. Stanley O'Neal ends with a messy undoing". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved on October 29, 2007.
- ↑ Merrill Lynch Earnings Press Release. Merrill Lynch. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
- ↑ Rankings Press Release. Merrill Lynch. Retrieved on October 23, 2007.
