Thain's Bonus, (S)Mack'd

Well, that didn't take long, did it? John Thain experienced a perfect storm of negativity over his $10 million bonus request from Merrill Lynch's board of directors today: one well-placed leak in the Wall Street Journal, an incredulous reaction by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo, and a bonus concession by Morgan Stanley chief executive John Mack.

Thain started the day hoping for a bit of spending money to help get through this recession. He ended it with an agreement to take zero instead, the Wall Street Journal reported. Four other top Merrill executives will also go without the extra few million this holiday season.

Thain reportedly "requested" that he not receive a bonus, despite plenty of support from commentators and bloggers today who argued he earned it by averting a bigger crisis with the sale of Merrill to Bank of America. Not surprisingly, Cuomo's opinion throws a bit more weight around inside boardrooms than that of the blogosphere.

No one, it should be noted, argued that John Mack has earned such a reward this year. Mack, who has now agreed not to take a bonus for the second consecutive year, managed to keep Morgan Stanley alive by allowing it to become a bank holding company. But in his shareholders' eyes that doesn't quite justify a bonus when Morgan Stanley stock is down 70 percent this year.

by Megan Barnett