UPDATE 1-New Merrill boss Thain gets $15 million bonus

(Adds details about restricted stock, option awards)

NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 's new Chief Executive, John Thain, will receive a $15 million cash bonus in a pay package that eventually could top $140 million if the brokerage's battered stock returns to this year's high.

Thain receives the bonus this year and sign-on awards that include 1.8 million stock options and 500,000 restricted stock units currently worth $28 million, the company said on Friday. Merrill also will replace options and restricted stock Thain lost by leaving NYSE Euronext (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The value of Thain's pay package from Merrill would be significantly higher if the brokerage's stock returns to this year's high of $98.68, for example, and stays above that, while his stock-based incentives vest. Under that share-price scenario, Thain's restricted stock award could be worth about $50 million and his options could top about $77 million.

Merrill said Thain's $15 million cash bonus is in recognition he will not receive a bonus this year from NYSE. There is no guarantee he will receive a bonus in future years, the company said.

His base salary will be $750,000. Last year at NYSE, Thain, 52, received $1.8 million in salary and a $3.25 million cash bonus. Stan O'Neal, ousted late last month as Merrill's CEO and chairman, took home about $48 million last year.

Merrill's stock closed down 2.1 percent at $56.11 on Friday. So far this year, the stock is down 40 percent.

Thain's restricted stock will vest over five years. One- third of Thain's options from Merrill will vest over two years. Another one-third of the options will vest if Merrill's stock rise $20 over the share price set on the trading day before Thain's Dec. 1 start date. The remaining options vest if Merrill's stock rises $40 over the so-called start date price, the company said.

Vesting can be accelerated if Merrill is taken over in an acquisition, the company said in a regulatory filing. But Thain will not be entitled to any big-ticket change-in-control severance or perks, Merrill said. That is a departure from the arrangement with O'Neal, who was eligible to collect more than $200 million in the event of a takeover.

Merrill named Thain, a veteran of Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), as its chairman and chief executive on Wednesday. O'Neal lost his job after the company cut the value of risky assets by $8.4 billion, triggering the biggest quarterly loss in Merrill's history. (Reporting by Tim McLaughlin; editing by Gary Hill and Andre Grenon)