Gapper blog: Fiddling while Merrill burned

Reputations get shredded fast in a financial crisis, but the speed of John Thain’s descent from hero to zero is extraordinarily rapid, says the FT’s John Gapper. In mid-October, he seemed the smartest guy in the pack, delivering Merrill Lynch to Bank of America for $50bn. Since then, it has been all downhill. Symbolism matters, and Thain’s initial attempt to gain a $10m bonus for 2008, as well as details of his $1.22m office redecoration, have turned him into a symbol of Wall Street excess. But most shocking is the FT report that Thain accelerated payments of Merrill bonuses. That act has a ring of fiddling while Rome burned, particularly in view of the Roman theme of his office decorations.