Merrill Lynch Exec Spends $1.22 Million on Office Re-do

By: Diy maven Jan 23, 2009

When the financial crisis was just about to hit the fan, Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, who oversaw the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America Corp. last month, thought it prudent to spend $1.22 million bucks of company cash to redecorate his downtown Manhattan office. To put the expenditure into perspective, Merrill lost $15.4 billion in their 4^th quarter, which forced Bank of America to seek government/taxpayer aid. Here’s a list–courtesy of The Daily Beast–of some of the things that found their way into Thain’s new office.

$2,700 for six wall sconces.
$5,000 for a mirror in his private dining room.
$11,000 for fabric for a "Roman Shade."
$13,000 for a chandelier in the private dining room.
$15,000 for a sofa.
$16,000 for a "custom coffee table."
$18,000 for a "George IV Desk." $25,000 for a "mahogany pedestal table."
$28,000 for four pairs of curtains. $35,000 for something called a "commode on legs."
$37,000 for six chairs in his private dining room.
$68,000 for a "19th Century Credenza" in his office.
$87,000 for a pair of guest chairs.
$87,000 for an area rug in Thain's conference room and another area rug for $44,000.
$800,000 to hire celebrity designer Michael Smith, who is currently redesigning the White House for the Obama family for just $100,000.

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The upside to this story....yesterday, Mr. Thain was canned from Merrill Lynch.

POST UPDATE: As of yesterday 1/26/09, it has been reported that Mr. Thain will reimburse Bank of America the $1.2 million in reno costs. Interesting what public outrage can accomplish, no?

Pic via Bloomberg.

Tagged : extravagant, expensive, office, redecorating