Merrill CEO Sees Thousands Of Job Cuts

Merrill Lynch & Co Inc Chief Executive John Thain said he expects thousands of job cuts after the company is acquired by Bank of America Corp, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

Most of the losses will be in information technology, operations, and finance, but jobs won't be eliminated in fixed income and commodities, Thain said in a television interview in Dubai with the news service.

"We haven't mapped it out in terms of actual number of people, but we are committed to saving $7 billion across the combined platforms, and that will be a challenge," Thain said. "Between our two companies, it will be clearly thousands of jobs."

Earlier Monday, Thain said he expects emergency measures by regulators worldwide to unfreeze lending to be successful, but added that banks will need to raise capital and merge as the U.S. economy sinks into recession. Fallout from the global credit crisis could last for years, he said.

Representatives of Bank of America and Merrill did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Bank of America agreed last month to buy Merrill in a transaction they originally valued at $50 billion.

Thain said the merger is on track to close by year end, with shareholders expected to vote in mid- to late November.

(Reuters)











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