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Not much of a surprise:

Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive Stan O'Neal has decided to leave the firm, according to a person familiar with the matter.

An announcement on his departure could come today or Monday morning, this person said. The firm's board of directors is expected to do a broad search to find a replacement and will look internally and externally.

Those in the running for Mr. O'Neal's job include Laurence Fink, chief executive of money manager BlackRock Inc. and Gregory Fleming, Merrill's co-president. There could also be some power-sharing arrangement involving the two men, or a temporary solution to give the board more time to find a permanent replacement. Bob McCann, head of Merrill's huge brokerage arm, is also considered a candidate for a top job, according to Wall Street executives.

Mr. Fink's name has been mentioned repeatedly over the past week, but people familiar with the matter said the board hasn't had extensive discussions with him.

Directors have grown increasingly frustrated since Merrill announced $5 billion in write-downs three weeks ago. In the past week, the size of the hit grew by more than $3 billion, and Merrill reported a $2.24 billion net loss for the third quarter. Analysts say several billion dollars in additional write-downs may be in store.

Posted by edelfenbein at October 28, 2007 2:41 PM