The rise and fall of Wall Street’s John Thain

John Thain, the CEO of brokerage house Merrill Lynch, who guided his firm's absorption by Bank of America, was fired yesterday by BOA head Ken Lewis after it was learned that Merrill had brought $15.31 billion in fourth quarter losses onto the bank's balance sheet. Bank of America stock has lost 83 percent of its value since the Merrill acquisition was announced on September 21, and analysts believe that the banking giant is, for all intents and purposes, insolvent.