Merrill’s departing chief to get $160m

Title: Merrill’s departing chief to get $160m
Source: Financial Times
Date: 10/30/2007

From the article:

Merrill Lynch on Tuesday boosted Stan O’Neal’s departure package by almost $90m – taking it to $160m – by letting him retire as chairman and chief executive rather than sacking him.

The company said Mr O’Neal and the board had “both agreed that a change of leadership would best enable Merrill Lynch to move forward”.

Mr O’Neal’s departure follows the company’s admission last week that it had lost almost $8bn on mortgage-backed securities, making him the most senior executive to lose his job as a result of the US subprime mortgage turmoil.