NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp’s $50 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co Inc marks the end of a storied name in American finance, but also creates the nation’s biggest bank by far.
The purchase would end the 94-year independence of Merrill, Wall Street’s third-largest bank, and pair it with a banking behemoth that has announced more than $150 billion of acquisitions in the last five years.
