Biz media drooling on new Merrill CEO

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs writes Monday that the business media is falling all over themselves in writing about new Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain.

Fuchs wrote, “What they don’t mention are any legitimate criticisms or questions and they do exist, despite Mr. Thain’s readily apparent skills and strengths. ‘Mr. Fix-It,’ as Forbes referred to him in a headline leaves his head post at the New York Stock Exchange with two recent acquisitions not fully digested and still stand as open questions, as The Wall Street Journal points out.

“(The Journal, it also bears mentioning, does give Thain totally premature credit for being like James Dimon of JP Morgan and Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers. Time for a cold shower, Journal.

“As even Forbes points out in the article calling him Mr. Fix-It, the NYSE has lost market share. Hmmmmm….

“Business Week makes the excellent point that Thain, known as a technocrat, has never gotten his hands messy with the retail brokerage business. Mother Merrill, of course, has 14,000 of the creatures. And trust The Business Press Maven, who used to be one, on this: put your hand out to a retail broker and you are just as likely to pull it back a bloody stump.”

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