Stan O’Neal: The Rise and Fall of a Numbers Guy

O'Neal's apparent demise, analysts say, can be attributed to the vagaries of the market, a few ill-conceived decisions and a long list of enemies he amassed after years of aggressive cost cutting at the investment giant. Or, maybe ... He is a corporate crook and world-class [expletive] ... who happens to be the grandson of a former slave. Nice how the author manged to get the historical racial context wrapped into his expose on corporate victimhood.

After O'Neal was promoted to CFO, he laid off 24,000 employees — a third of the work force — fired 19 top executives and eliminated perks such as gourmet meals and chauffeured cars.  Yet, after destroying Merrill Lynch as CEO, he walked away with company holdings and a golden parachute worth $160 million.