Media reports said the CEO''s departure would likely be announced on Monday 29 October

After a $7.9-billion write-down related to subprime mortgages and O''Neal''s unauthorised overture to merge Merrill with Wachovia Bank, media reports said the board of Merrill Lynch had reached a broad consensus on Friday for his dismissal. That makes him the highest-ranking casualty of the global credit crisis so far.

O''Neal rose to power five years ago, and was known for shaking up the company''s top management. He put greater emphasis on riskier bets for higher earnings, rather than the unlucrative safety of just selling stocks.

His strategy brought Merrill Lynch record results during the market''s peak over the past two years, but equally heavy losses during the tumultuous third quarter after the sub-prime crisis triggered a credit squeeze.

O''Neal''s rise through the company was unique not only for its high speed, but also for the man''s extraordinary ability to be at the centre of major financial disruptions, without any significant blame attaching to him.

He was a senior banker in the junk bond division when Merrill incurred a $470 million write-down. He was a co-head of Merrill''s institutional business in 1997, just a few months before the Asian financial crisis. He was chief financial officer in 1998, when the firm suffered a quarterly loss because of losses in bond trading and exposure to troubled hedge fund Long Term Capital Management.

But he not only came out ''clean'', he also rose higher. O''Neal is described as an aloof, calculating man who, in his 20 years at the firm, has forged profitable temporary alliances with superiors like Herbert Allison Jr — a former president who was his first mentor - as well as Arshad Zakaria and Thomas Patrick Sr, two executives who championed his candidacy for the top job at Merrill. But he has been equally quick to cut ties with these apparent mentors.

But he is no out-and-out opportunist. Twice, he came close to leaving the firm and was known for his propensity to get depressed when things were not going his way. Equally, he has demonstrated at times of crisis that he can display energy, acumen and leadership.

In the days after the 9 / 11 terrorist attacks, O''Neal, who was then Merrill''s president, worked countless hours as the company struggled to regain its footing. He successfully secured the confidence and loyalty of shaken employees.

Once at the top, as O''Neal took on more risk and made deep cuts to improve efficiency, Merrill''s business flourished. In 2006, Merrill made $7 billion, using its capital in trading for itself and clients, compared with the $2.2 billion it made in 2002.

Merrill''s exposure to the volatile and ultimately toxic market for complex debt instruments — called collateralised debt obligations, or CDOs — went up to a staggering $40 billion when the credit market tightened this summer.

Initially, the increased risk was a boon. O''Neal reoriented the firm from a classic asset gatherer with an excellent stock underwriting business, to a bank that became increasingly hooked on the ''high-returns-high-risk return'' model, investing its own money.

In the second quarter of 2007, just before the collapse in the credit markets, fixed-income revenues skyrocketed 201 per cent compared to the same quarter a year earlier. Behind this explosive growth was Merrill''s market-leading CDO business.

But just as the company was scrambling to reduce its exposures, worsening conditions in late July shut down the market for even the highest-rated CDOs. Merrill''s position was ominously large, and a number of experts say the full extent of the disaster is not yet clear.

The company admitted as much on Wednesday, when it said that it didn''t know the extent of the full impact the crisis would have in the current earnings period.

O''Neal, to his credit, has manfully shouldered the entire blame for the earnings miss.

Merrill''s 11-member board, which includes O''Neal as chairman, is expected to initiate a search to find a replacement. Widely tipped as a successor is Laurence Fink, currently chairman and CEO of asset manager BlackRock Inc.

Fink is credited with being one of Wall Street''s most powerful players in the fixed-income market, which has been slammed by a global aversion to risk as mortgage-backed securities lost significant value during the summer. Fink had dinner with O''Neal on Thursday but he has yet to meet with Merrill''s board, Merrill Lynch owns a 49 per cent stake in BlackRock.

But there are two internal candidates as well. Gregory Fleming, Merrill''s co-president, and Bob McCann, who heads Merrill''s brokerage division, have also been named as possible replacements. There is also speculation that Fink, Fleming and McCann might enter into some power-sharing arrangement until the board can find a permanent replacement.