During August and September 2007, as the subprime mortgage crisis swept through the global financial market, Merrill Lynch announced losses of $8 billion. O'Neal finally realized the huge exposure that Merrill had to subprime mortgage-backed CDOs, and that the firm would have to be sold in order to survive. As the crisis worsened, O'Neal approached Bank of America and Wachovia Bank about a possible merger, without first obtaining the approval of Merrill's Board of Directors, which led to his ouster. On October 30, 2007 O'Neal resigned as CEO. He left with a severance package including Merrill stock and options worth $161.5 million on top of the $91.4 million in total compensation he earned in 2006.