FLEET- BANK OF AMERICA MERGER: $47 billion seals the deal

[leftchick]

http://www.newsday.com/business/local/newyork/ny-bzbank183711474mar18,0,3726590,print.story?coll=ny-nybusiness-headlines

<snip>Amid reports of thousands of pending layoffs, especially in the Northeast, Bank of America Corp. and FleetBoston Financial Corp. shareholders yesterday overwhelmingly approved a $47-billion merger to create the nation's third largest lender.

About 98 percent of Fleet shares and 67 percent of Bank of America shares were voted in favor of the deal, which has been approved by the Federal Reserve and Justice Department.

The combined Charlotte, N.C.-based company - Bank of America - will reach from New England, through the South, and to California, with a network of 5,700 branches, and estimated assets of $966 billion. The transaction should be completed late next month.

A favorable vote by shareholders lent new focus to the possibility of job cuts, particularly in New England, where Fleet is the dominant bank. Fleet also has 3,500 employees in New York City and Long Island - including hundreds of administrative workers at an office in Melville - while Bank of America has 3,000 employees in the New York-area.

[Fitzovich]

1. Fleet Credit Cards

Isn't Fleet the one with the nice way of jacking credit card rates to the moon after your introductory period? Or am I mistaken?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

5. Yes, they're the ones (among several others).

[Racenut20]

2. All this goo shareholder news, and only 13,000 lost their jobs

That must be progress.

[leftchick]

3. Hmmmm, how far behind now is chimpy* in making those...

2.8 million jobs this year??

[salin]

4. as does all the debt service

which cuts into revenues - and will at somepoint be used as a reason for further cutting costs and laying off more employees.

The debt burden accrued in these mega mergers is never discussed - but it is very significant.