Merrill Lynch and Co., Inc. is a leading global financial management and advisory company with a presence in 36 countries around the world. It serves the needs of both individual and institutional clients with personal financial planning, securities underwriting, trading and brokering, investment banking and advisory services, foreign exchange, commodities, derivatives, banking, insurance and research. The company’s business activities are grouped into three segments: global markets and investment banking; private client; and Merrill Lynch investment managers. The global markets and investment banking segment provides comprehensive investment banking, financing, advisory and related products and services to corporations, institutional clients and sovereign governments throughout the world. The private client division provides products and services related to the accumulation and management of wealth, including brokerage and dealer activities, banking, retirement, custody services and financial services for small and medium-sized businesses. The Merrill Lynch investment managers group offers a variety of investment products, including money market funds, tax-exempt fixed income funds, quality ratings, maturities and equity and balanced open-ended mutual funds. The firm recently completed the acquisition of the energy trading businesses of Entergy-Koch, LP, a subsidiary of privately owned Koch Industries, Inc. The new unit will operate as the global commodities group, operated within Merrill Lynch’s global markets and investment banking segment.

Of Merrill Lynch's officers and managers, 13.3% are minorities, as are 18.2% of the entire workforce. The company offers health care benefits to part-time employees working as few as 18 hours a week and extends its benefits to same-sex and opposite-sex non-spousal partners. Benefits include on-site medical facilities, adoption assistance, a variety of child-care resources, tuition assistance and flexible work schedules.