Disgraced Merrill CEO Does Some Damage Control

John Thain, known as Wall Street’s “Mr. Fixit” before being ousted from Bank of America Corp., hired a New York public relations firm whose clients include Ben Affleck for a little fixing of his own. His "Operation Restore Credibilty" campaign started out with an interview with Maria Bartimono- check out (the video here) where he tried to explain his rationale for spending a cool million bucks and change renovating his office. He failed, by the way. Now Bloomberg reports that much like Governor Blago we will have to endure a "mea culpa" campaign talk show circuit as Thain tries to salvage a shred of his public image.

Thain, 53, was dismissed last week by Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis after Merrill Lynch & Co.’s $15.3 billion loss forced the company to seek further aid from the U.S. government and amid disclosures he accelerated year-end bonus payments to Merrill employees before the deal closed.

After signing with the PR group, the former Merrill CEO apologized yesterday in a memo to top Merrill executives for paying $1.2 million last year to renovate his New York office and said he will repay the costs. Thain said the office work included two conference rooms and a reception area

Thain burnished his image as one of Wall Street’s most reliable executives during the 25 years he spent at New York- based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. In 2004, he was hired to run the New York Stock Exchange after a scandal over pay to his predecessor, Richard Grasso, had attracted the scrutiny of then- New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

At Merrill, Thain assembled a new management team by recruiting colleagues from Goldman and NYSE Euronext. He engineered Merrill’s sale to Bank of America on the same weekend that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. sought bankruptcy protection and the U.S. bailed out mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Four months later, Thain is out of a job. He acknowledged on CNBC yesterday that he was “surprised” by the reversal of fortune. He had purchased 84,600 shares of Bank of America the day before his dismissal. He said in the interview that he “hasn’t really thought much” about his future. But his future obviously concerns him as evidenced by the amount of time and money he is spending on shoring up his public image.