Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith turns 100 today. At least, she would have been, if she was a standalone entity, and not a government rescued TBTF entity, forced into a shot-gun wedding with Bank of America.Some of our financial crisis posts:
I have a warm place in my heart for the firm once referred to as Mother Merrill. As a young trader, I interviewed for an entry-level position. Right there on the main trading floor, a cavernous affair the size of several football fields in the downtown office. It was unlike any place I had ever been in before. I had plenty of friends who worked on desks there, and eventually came to know many folks in their research department. There was at one time a sense of camaraderie at Merrill, a real feeling that everyone was rowing in unison....MUCH MORE, including infographic
January 2008 cracks begin to appear:
Citigroup and Merrill Lynch’s Fire Sales (C; MER)
May 7, 2008 a keen observer spots the balance sheet problem
Fintag on Merrill Lynch (MER)
Sunday September 14, 2008:
7:29 p.m. EDT; "It’s all about Merrill" (LEH; MER) and "Mean Street: If Lehman Liquidates, Wall Street Gets Set to Make a Killing"
Sunday September 14, 2008
9:00 p.m. EDT: Merrill Lynch- Board Meeting to Approve Takeover by BankAmerica (BAC; MER)
Sept. 14, 2008 9:35 EDT:
How Wall Street Can Save Itself. And: Bank of America Reaches Deal for Merrill (BAC; MER)
October 31, 2008 via the SEC Form 14A:
MERGER
PROPOSED — YOUR VOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT 
Wednesday April 15, 2009 A simply awesome piece for historians or anyone else who cares about the business:
Goodbye Merrill Lynch - 'Shame, Shame, Shame' (Winthrop H. Smith: Address to the Shareholders of Merrill Lynch)
And some more recent posts:
September 2011
Mother Merrill May Yet Again Breathe the Sweet Air of Freedom (BAC)Didn't happen
November 2012
20 Years at Merrill Distilled Into 10 Investment Guidelines
On the 5-year anniversary last September:
Today in the Financial Crisis, Sunday Sept. 14, 2008: This Is It
...SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
I don’t know how this happened.
When, at 8 A.M., John Thain returned to Ken Lewis’s apartment to pursue the rescue of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, he sensed that Lewis had grown more eager to make a deal. As Lewis offered Thain coffee, he seemed entranced by the possibility of instantly becoming America’s largest retail broker. Thain was growing anxious. The previous night’s meeting with John Mack and other Morgan Stanley executives had made it clear that Morgan Stanley couldn’t move fast enough. He hadn’t yet heard anything about the Goldman meeting then under way. Bank of America might be the only option. Lewis was emphatic about one thing. “We’re only interested in buying a hundred per cent,” he said.“Then it can’t be a lowball price,” Thain replied.
Lewis assured him that he wasn’t trying to get Merrill on the cheap.
After about half an hour, Thain left for the Fed. When he arrived, Kelly and Kraus told him that Goldman had proposed buying a 9.9-per-cent stake in Merrill and providing a $10-billion line of credit—just what Thain had been looking for originally. Goldman wanted to start examining Merrill’s books as soon as possible. “Let’s get this going,” Thain said....MORE
