For BofA's Lewis, Merrill Was 1 Deal Too Many

Ken Lewis, a man who thrived on scoring the next big deal, found himself sunk by one.

Lewis was stripped of his title as Bank of America Corp.'s chairman Wednesday when shareholders voted to separate that job from the CEO's position. He'll stay on as chief executive, but the loss of his chairman's role is a direct result of the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.

Most of the shareholders who spoke at BofA's annual meeting Wednesday questioned Lewis' decision to agree to a government-brokered purchase of the struggling investment bank. The deal placed Lewis, who had been chairman and CEO of the Charlotte-based bank since 2001, on shaky ground.

All 18 Bank of America directors, including Lewis, were re-elected by a comfortable margin, according to results of the vote released later Wednesday by the bank.

An aggressive dealmaker who had already snapped up big bank companies including FleetBoston Financial, MBNA and Countrywide Financial, Lewis this time didn't buy a financial winner when BofA bought Merrill Lynch in a rushed deal last September on the same weekend that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. went under.

After the purchase was sealed, Merrill Lynch announced $15 billion in fourth-quarter losses. Lewis has also been criticized for allowing bonus payments to Merrill employees before the takeover was completed on Jan. 1.

The Merrill Lynch acquisition was supposed to transform the bank into a business befitting its name. A strong investment bank has been the only missing piece for Bank of America; a series of bad bets in its investment banking unit over the past year and a half helped slash companywide profits.

"That there is even a question of if the CEO of the largest bank in America should be in charge demonstrates the level of anger in the country right now," said Michael W. Robinson, senior vice president of Levick Strategic Communications.

Robinson said of Lewis and the country's dissatisfaction with the ongoing problems at Bank of America and other financial companies: "It's not to say he deserved it, but a lot of anger and that blame has to go somewhere."