Bank of America buys Merrill Lynch

A person briefed on the deal says Charlotte-based Bank of America is buying Merrill Lynch for about 50 billion dollars.
   
The deal will create a financial services giant and lift the uncertainty that has shrouded the nation’s biggest brokerage since the credit crisis began.
   
The final agreement is still being worked out but Bank of America is said to have agreed to pay $29 a share for Merrill. That’s a 70-percent premium on the brokerage’s Friday closing price of $17.05.
   
Bank of America has the most deposits of any U.S. bank. Merrill Lynch is the world’s largest and most widely recognized brokerage.
   
Officials from the government and various banks met this weekend to discuss what to do about the troubled investment bank Lehman Brothers. When Bank of America balked at buying Lehman, the government urged it to buy Merrill Lynch instead.