Merrill Lynch CEO Retires

Fakahany, a close confidant of O'Neal, will lead back-office functions such as finance and human resources.

Robert McCann, the president of the company's massive global wealth management group, was not named in the power-sharing agreement. He has been tipped as a potential long-shot candidate to take O'Neal's job. Fleming is also considered a possible internal candidate.

Among those said to be considered for the job outside the firm are NYSE Euronext CEO John Thain and BlackRock Inc.CEO Laurence Fink.

O'Neal is the descendant of a former slave who grew up in poverty in Alabama before rising to become one of the highest-ranking African-Americans on Wall Street. He worked his way through a Harvard business degree by working at General Motors Corp., and in 1986 joined Merrill as a banker in its junk-bond department.

His elevation to CEO was seen by some as an experiment by the company's board, most of whom have since retired. O'Neal mostly held positions on the client-contact side, which goes against the trading background most of its other CEOs had.

O'Neal, who spent 21 years at the firm, was paid roughly $48 million salary in 2006.