CHARLOTTE, North Carolina
Ken Lewis was ousted as chairman of Bank of America Wednesday after shareholders angry about the company’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch voted to separate the job from that of chief executive.
Lewis will remain the CEO of the bank, but board member Walter E. Massey, president emeritus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, will become Bank of America Corp.’s chairman.
The rebuke from the company’s shareholders was a stunning turn of events for Lewis, who a year ago was at the top of the banking industry and whose job as CEO is still marked by uncertainty.
Shareholders narrowly voted at the bank’s annual meeting Wednesday to split the jobs following months of rancor over the Merrill Lynch & Co. acquisition. After the deal was sealed Jan. 1, Merrill Lynch reported $15 billion in fourth-quarter losses and it was learned that Bank of America had approved the early payout of billions of dollars in bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees.
Lewis, 62, who was chairman and CEO since 2001, has spent much of this year defending his actions and did so again during the angry four-hour meeting.
Results of the voting were delayed for several hours, and Bank of America Wednesday evening issued a statement that the board of directors had met, elected Massey as chairman and unanimously voted to keep Lewis as CEO.
