Merrill Lynch

How Many Millionaires Are There in the World?

Filed under: Wealth

How many millionaires are there in the world today? It depends on what you mean by "millionaire". The Economist reports that there are two different "official" methods for determining who makes the cut. Capegemini, a financial consultancy, defines a millionaire as anyone with investable assets of $1 million or more – meaning that they actually have over a million dollars as that doesn't include the home in which they live, for instance. By this measure there are about 10 million millionaires on the planet, according to Capegemini and Merrill Lynch. Mega bank Credit Suisse uses a different definition, however, denoting anyone whose net assets exceed $1 million a millionaire. In those terms, there are 24.2 million millionaires on the planet – about 0.5% of the world's adult population, or more than the entire population of Australia. 41% of them live in the U.S., 10% in Japan and 3% in China.

Tags: Merrill Lynch, millionaire, millionaires, money, wealth

How BP's Tony Hayward Got Shortchanged

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth, Crimes and Misdemeanors

On July 26 my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported that ousted BP CEO Tony Hayward (right), who become the target of international ire after the company failed to contain the massive Gulf oil spill, will walk away with $1.5 million in salary and benefits plus a pension worth over $17 million, for a total of cashout of $18.5 million.

That may seem like a lot of money for someone who oversaw the worst ecological disaster in recent history and watched his company's fortunes plummet – but in fact Hayward's "golden parachute" is pretty damned paltry compared to other recently ousted CEO's payouts, the Economist points out.

For instance, Hayward's kiss-off is a whopping $191.5 million less than the $210 million received by Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli in 2007, who departed the company after its share price plunged. After the jump you'll find the newspaper's selected ranking of CEO payouts, showing Hayward languishing in last place. So don't be too hard on the guy - compared to his other former CEO pals he's practically penniless and they're probably all making fun of him at the club:

Tags: BP, business, CEO, CEOs, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, oil spill, Tony Hayward, wealth

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Ousted CEO And Obamas Share The Same Decorator

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

John Thain, the former Merrill Lynch & Co. chief executive officer who was kicked to the curb yesterday shares something in common with President Obama, the same decorator. Thain spent $1.2 million redecorating his Manhattan office last year at a time when the company was in turmoil. Bloomberg reports that his decorator was Michael Smith, who chosen by the Obamas to redecorate the White House. Thain's office includes a $25,000 pedestal table and a $68,000 19th Century credenza as well as $87,000 spent in area rugs. More than just the furnishings led to Thain's troubles, he also went on a ski trip to Vail, Colorado at what was considered a crucial time for the company and was planning to attend the upcoming Davos meeting, even though parent company Bank of America had advised against it.

Critics say that spending the company money on the renovation at a time when the company was in peril sends a bad message and that if he wanted to redesign his office he should have paid for it himself. President Obama has said that the government will scrutinize companies that have been given taxpayer assistance to make sure they are spending appropriately. The Bloomberg article does quote an antiques dealer who states that the antiques will likely hold their value. This may well be true but I can't help but think of the case of Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski and his infamous antique desk which was worth far less than he paid for it.

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Tags: john thain, JohnThain, merrill lynch, MerrillLynch, michael smith, MichaelSmith