AI是这么说滴：导致其作为独立实体消亡的关键事件

Key events leading to its demise as an independent entity include:

• Massive losses: Throughout 2007 and 2008, Merrill Lynch's financial condition deteriorated due to its heavy exposure to mortgage-backed securities, leading to billions in losses. By September 2008, the company had lost over $50 billion on these toxic assets and was facing a liquidity crisis.
• The Lehman Brothers crisis: The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 intensified the market panic. With investors losing confidence in other financial institutions, Merrill Lynch was in danger of being the next firm to fail.
• Forced acquisition by Bank of America: Over the weekend of September 13–14, 2008, Merrill Lynch negotiated a deal to be sold to Bank of America for $50 billion. This was widely seen as a rescue effort to prevent a Merrill Lynch bankruptcy, which would have further destabilized the global financial system.
• End of an independent era: Although the acquisition was completed in January 2009, the decision and events of September 2008 marked the end of Merrill Lynch's 94-year history as a standalone entity. The company ceased to be publicly traded, and its stock ticker, "MER," was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange at the end of 2008. 

While the Merrill Lynch brand still exists today as a wealth management division within Bank of America, the investment bank and brokerage firm that operated independently for nearly a century ceased to exist in 2008.