John Thain

About John Thain

John Alexander Thain (born May 26, 1955) is the current chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch. The Associated Press identified him as the best-paid CEO in 2007, among S&P 500 companies.

Previously, Mr. Thain held management positions at: the New York Stock Exchange (CEO), and Goldman Sachs (President, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer). He amassed $300 million in Goldman stock. It was widely believed that Mr. Thain was also a front runner to head Citigroup. Merrill Lynch and Citigroup sought new leaders following the sudden departure of their former CEOs due to disappointing Q3 2007 earnings reports.

In December 2003 NYSE interim Chairman John Reed, told The Wall Street Journal that Thain would be paid "a plain vanilla number" - about $4 million a year, including bonuses, with no "strange retirement" programs like former CEO Dick Grasso was paid.