Just three weeks after the deal closed, the Bank of America, on Thursday, showed the exit door to the person who won the Merrill deal for it. Yes, the former Merrill Lynch Chief Executive Officer John Thain was booted out yesterday by the Kenneth D. Lewis, the Chairman, President and CEO of the Bank of America and the new owner of Merrill Lynch.

John Thain's had to go after the unexpectedly large fourth- quarter loss; he was pressed to step down, in the wake of fresh losses, which disturbed the new owners of the firm, say the inside reports.

Once nicknamed as "I-robot," Thain was considered as one of the Wall Street's strongest and dependable persons until 14 months ago, but the man came under fire due to the piling losses at Merrill and his compensation and extravagant spending on office decorations.

Thain's resignation came after Merrill posted, this week, $15.3 billion loss in the fourth quarter. The loss really shocked the investors. But, calling it a "severe capital markets dislocation," Merrill took additional expenses including $1.9 billion for leveraged loans and $1.1 billion for commercial real estate.

Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri reported that Lewis flew to New York on Thursday and had a meeting with Thain. "It was mutually agreed that his situation was not working out and that he would resign," Silvestri said.