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From the FT:

Merrill Lynch’s losses in the past 18 months amount to about a quarter of the profits it has made in its 36 years as a listed company, according to Financial Times research that highlights the extent of the global banking crisis.

Since the onset of the credit crunch last year, Merrill has suffered after-tax losses of more than $14bn as its balance sheet has been savaged by almost $52bn in writedowns and credit-related losses.

Merrill’s total inflation-adjusted profits between its 1971 listing and 2006 were about $56bn, according to figures from Thomson Reuters Fundamentals and an FT analysis of reported earnings.

The $14bn in losses for 2007 and the first two quarters of 2008 equal half of Merrill’s profits since the beginning of the ­decade.

Posted by edelfenbein at August 29, 2008 3:57 PM