Spin Blog - Business Spin by Jack Flack: Merrill Lynch: How the Media Helped Fire Stan O'Neal - Portfolio.com

Spin Blog - Business Spin by Jack Flack: Merrill Lynch: How the Media Helped Fire Stan O'Neal - Portfolio.com

This afternoon, the WSJ's Randall Smith and Tom Lauricella reported one scenario for the departure of Stan O'Neal, while CNBC's Charles Gasparino reported another. Either way, the assumed exit would conclude an incredibly rapid decent down Jack Flack's "Five Levels of CEO Media Hell," revealing much about the connection between the news media and back-room power-plays.

So how did the story accelerate so quickly?

1. The espoused story was never the real story.

Espoused story: "Unexpected, massive write-offs from reckless risk-taking, combined with side-dealing without board endorsement, has forced the board to consider firing O'Neal."

Real story: "The write-offs and side-conversation made O'Neal vulnerable to the legions of enemies he's made in bluntly hacking away at the Mother Merrill culture."


The toppling of a powerful CEO is seldom actually about performance, and almost always about the control of power and the vengeance of embittered egos. Fire a bunch of type-A bankers and brokers over the years, and you better watch your back, particularly with one who felt born to the job you got instead. Urinate on the culture, and watch some scary ghosts come out of the attic.