How much does Merrill Lynch & Co Chief Executive John Thain make a year in salary?

Mr. Thain, 53 years old, gets an annual salary of $750,000. He worked for years at Goldman, most recently as the firm's president. He left Goldman in 2004 to run the New York Stock Exchange and received $9.4 million in 2006, his last full year as chief executive of that firm.

When Mr. Thain landed at Merrill in late 2007, he received a $15 million cash signing bonus and a pay package that was valued from about $50 million to $120 million over a number of years.

Merrill shares were trading above $50 when he was hired, and his pay package was structured heavily toward his ability to increase the price by another $40 or more. Merrill's shares have fallen steadily this year, closing Friday at $13.04 in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

John Thain Salary

mutually as i think many, if no longer maximum, of those executives are grossly overpaid, that's no longer for the generic public to come again to a kind their repayment programs. The board of directors of those firms and finally the inventory holders have the authority to grant those payouts. The employment contracts of those executives have not got clauses to handle such catastrophic losses as this. they're skewed in the direction of upside rewards and not draw back effects. I do have faith that if the federal government (taxpayors!) bail out those agencies then we would desire to consistently have the splendid to void such employment contracts and revoke rewards provided that negligence would nicely be shown.