Merrill CEO Thain says no plans to take White House job if McCain wins

Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive John Thain said Thursday he has no plans to leave the brokerage and work at the White House if John McCain is elected president.

Thain, who is chairman of McCain's finance committee, said at the company's annual meeting that he is not posturing to become Treasury secretary or to take any other economy-related post. A number of Wall Street executives have moved into public service, including the current Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, who had been CEO of Goldman Sachs.

Merrill Lynch brought Thain on board last year after the ouster of former CEO Stan O'Neal amid steep losses linked to the credit crisis. Thain has pledged to beef up the company's balance sheet and cut back on expenses.

The world's largest brokerage last week said it would cut another 3,000 jobs after more than $6.5 billion (€4.1 billion) of fresh write-downs pushed it to a loss for the first quarter.

Despite the losses, Thain on Thursday dismissed speculation he was considering a plan to raise capital by selling the brokerage's 20 percent stake in news and financial data provider Bloomberg LP.

"We intend to keep it," Thain said, adding that Bloomberg has not offered to repurchase the stake.

Thain, like other investment bank chiefs, said he sees some improvement in the credit crisis that began last summer but that it "hasn't totally gone away."

He did not provide any earnings guidance for the year, but suggested the financial climate would be difficult.

"When I look out over the course of the rest of 2008, I look at the economic environment in the U.S. — I think it's going to be challenging," he said. "Falling home prices, high energy costs, higher food prices, and you have to look at rising unemployment. All of that is likely to put downward pressure on the economy."

Merrill Lynch said after the meeting that it declared a regular quarterly dividend of 35 cents per share that is payable to shareholders of record on May 8. It also declared dividends for a number of preferred stock holdings.

Shares of Merrill Lynch rose $2.06, or 4.6 percent, to $46.97 in midday trading.