O'Neal's Hail Mary Draws Merrill Board Passer Interference

Facing billions of dollars in losses from the subprime mortgage crisis, Merrill Lynch chairman and CEO E. Stanley O'Neal, floated the idea of a merger with a large bank, an overture that angered Merrill's board and could now cost him his job, according to The New York Times.
 
O'Neal broached the possibility of a merger with Wachovia without first getting the approval of Merrill's board, a major breach of corporate protocol at a time when directors were already concerned about the company's performance, the Times reported.
 
Merrill's board was so upset with O'Neal that it even discussed the names of potential candidates to replace him, according to the Times, which said that candidates include Laurence D. Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, an investment firm partly owned by Merrill, and John A. Thain, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange.