Word came down early this week that E. Stanley O’Neal, chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co., one of Wall Street’s most esteemed investment banks, was done—forced to “retire” by the company’s board of directors.

So why should you care? It matters because O’Neal was part of a very small and exclusive group of African-American CEOs running major U.S. companies.

Why did he have to resign?
O’Neal was a casualty of the so-called “subprime” meltdown in the financial markets, which we explained back in August. He took sizeable risks that ultimately cost the company over $2 billion. And he upset the board by reportedly approaching another company about potentially buying Merrill without consulting the board—a corporate no-no.

Few are saying race had anything to do with O’Neal’s departure. Media coverage of his departure has almost exclusively focused on his performance and the subprime mess, which commentators point to as a positive.


The minority stats
O’Neal’s departure leaves six African-Americans at the helm of Fortune 500 companies. The Fortune 500 ranks the largest U.S. companies by total revenue. Wal-Mart is the biggest, with revenues in 2006 of $351 billion.


The statistics aren’t much better for women and Hispanics in the top spot. There are a mere 13 female CEOs in the Fortune 500 and seven Hispanics. Combined, African-Americans, women and Hispanics account for 5.2% of the list.


The big picture

Katherine Graham of the Washington Post became the first female Fortune 500 CEO in 1972, and it wasn’t until 1999 that Fannie Mae tapped Franklin Raines to become the first black CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Years after these milestones, O’Neal’s exit serves as a glaring reminder that America’s boardrooms—often white and male dominated—still have a long way to go before they resemble America itself.