NYSE chief Thain to take top Merrill post

NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Officer John Thain has agreed to take the top post at Merrill Lynch & Co., the New York brokerage giant said Wednesday.

The move, effective Dec. 1, came amid speculation Merrill would tap BlackRock Inc. CEO Larry Fink. Merrill is a 49 percent shareholder in BlackRock, the fund company he founded.

But a Merrill spokeswoman said Fink "was never offered the job" as Merrill CEO.

United Press International could not reach Fink for comment.

Thain, 52, said he was "excited and honored to have the opportunity to lead such an outstanding organization."

He takes over a post vacated by Stan O'Neal, ousted a few weeks ago after a $2.3 billion loss, an $8.4 billion write-down and an unauthorized merger approach to rival bank Wachovia Corp.

NYSE Euronext plans to name Duncan Niederauer, its co-chief operating officer and president, as its new CEO, The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported.

An announcement was expected later Wednesday.

Thain is an ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive who remade the Big Board into a publicly traded company from a beleaguered non-profit organization.

While NYSE has become more diversified under Thain's leadership, it has also lost market share in the trading of its own stock to electronic players like Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., the Journal said.