The collapse of the nation’s housing market and subsequent mortgage mess that has bedeviled Wall Street for nearly a year cost Stanley O’Neal his job at Merrill Lynch & Co. Ditto for Charles Prince at Citigroup Inc.

Stan O'Neal, who worked for 21 years at the brokerage giant, is a casualty of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Merrill Lynch & Co. has lost billions of dollars in the sub-prime mortgage crisis, but the company's deposed chief executive is walking away with more than $160 million.

Stan O'Neal reportedly decides to step down, becoming first among his peers to be done in by the sub-prime crisis. The beleaguered head of Merrill Lynch & Co. has reportedly decided to step down and leave the firm, becoming the first chief of a Wall Street investment bank to be done in by the sub-prime mortgage crisis.