O’Neal produced huge profits for the firm; last year, net income was a record $7.5 billion. On the job, at least, he made no attempt to be a nice guy. The Wall Street Journal reports that O’Neal would rake his executives over the coals if quarterly earnings reports showed that rival Goldman Sachs was outperforming Merrill in some area. Now that O’Neal is on his way out, of course, people who worked for him are saying things to reporters – he was aloof, he was brusque, he didn’t tolerate strong-willed subordinates – that they wouldn’t have said to his face.
It’s the classic high-flying modern Wall Street story – you claw your way to the top, make a lot of money for your stockholders, make a lot of money for yourself, hold on as long as you can. O’Neal lasted five years in the top job at Merrill, which is about the average tenure of an American CEO.
What’s really significant is that there is a Stan O’Neal. And a Dick Parsons, the African-American CEO of Time Warner, rumored to be on his way out, too, after a long and profitable run. And a Ken Chenault, the African-American CEO of American Express, who is staying put, far as I know. And a Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, widely acknowledged as the first African-American billionaire.
Just two or three generations removed from slavery, they rose to control big chunks of the American economy. They attained Master of the Universe status by being smarter and tougher than their peers – and now a much bigger cohort of black corporate executives is coming up behind them. It just goes to show what happens when you open a door.
There is only one Man who ever attained Master of the Universe status.
Affirmative action did seem to work in some cases. This is why businesses generally support affirmative action. The old-boy network, that valued loyalty over capitalism, could be broken by overcoming the old way of doing things: hire your friends.
As a young African American male in corporate America, I really appreciate the presence and leadership of Oneal, Chenault and other black executives.
John:
Actually, I think the old boys network is being expanded. For Oneal and other blacks to reach those heights of power, you have to be a good ole boy or closely aligned with one. The good ole boys still hire their friends.
-Vincent
What’s distressing to me is that these men can run multi-billion-dollar corporations and when a MSM talking head needs a quote from an African-American leader, out wheels a two-bit hustler like Jesse Jackson, an adjudicated slandederer like Al Sharpton or, even worse, a loathsome cretin like Snoop Dogg. Personally, I’d be offended if the media rolled out charlatans like this as representatives of the white community.