Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Stan O'Neal got the fifth-largest exit-pay package for a U.S. executive when he left Merrill Lynch & Co. with $161.5 million in securities and retirement benefits, according to research group Corporate Library.

Exxon Mobil Corp. former Chief Executive Officer Lee Raymond tops the list with a $351 million payout, followed by ex-Pfizer Inc. CEO Hank McKinnell at $213 million.

Merrill Lynch, the world's largest brokerage firm, ousted O'Neal as chief executive after reporting a $2.24 billion loss on Oct. 24, six times its forecast and the biggest quarterly loss in the company's 93-year history. In an Oct. 30 regulatory filing, Merrill said O'Neal, 56, won't get any severance or bonus beyond the $161.5 million in stock awards and retirement benefits.

Democratic U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said in an interview that O'Neal's payout may revive efforts in Congress to rein in excessive CEO salaries.

Corporate Library's list may not be definitive, said Paul Hodgson, a senior research associate at the Portland, Maine-based group, which rates public companies based on corporate governance and executive pay and advises shareholders. The payouts are ``perhaps not the 10 most excessive, but certainly 10 of the most excessive golden goodbyes,'' he said.

Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso isn't on the list because the exchange wasn't a public company when he was forced out in 2003 and his $140 million package was made up almost entirely of deferred compensation, Hodgson said.

The top 10 list:

                                                     Estimated
                                                        Payout
Company                   CEO                   Year     (mil)
==============================================================
Exxon Mobil Corp.         Lee Raymond           2006    $351.0
Pfizer Inc.               Hank McKinnell        2006     213.0
Home Depot Inc.           Robert Nardelli       2007     210.0
Gillette Co.              James Kilts           2005     165.0
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.  Stanley O'Neal        2007     161.5
UnitedHealth Group Inc.   William McGuire       2006     153.0
WellPoint Health Networks Leonard Schaeffer     2005     137.0
SouthTrust Bank           Wallace Malone        2006     135.0
Morgan Stanley            Philip Purcell        2005      94.0
Conseco Inc.              Stephen Hilbert       2000      72.5
==============================================================
Source: Corporate Library

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Moran in New York at nmoran@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 2, 2007 15:57 EDT