Bob Doll has bolstered laggard portfolio performance and profit margins at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Can he now restore growth? This February in railway stations and airports throughout the U.K., a poster appeared featuring a two-handled silver trophy cup engraved with a bull. The none-too-subde imagery was aimed at drawing customers to Merrill Lynch Investment Managers' equity mutual funds. The bold-faced tag line: "Invest in Our Success." The last time Merrill Lynch & Co.'s trademark bull had dared to show its face in a U.K. ad was back in early 2000, just before the bubble burst. The £1.2 million ($2.3 million) marketing campaign hinted at the steady — but slow — revival of Merrill's $479 billion asset management business under Robert Doll. When the industry veteran took over as Merrill Lynch Investment Managers' president and CIO in 2001, he took charge of an organization scarred by abysmal performance, meager profits and fleeing assets. In less than four years — two of them marred by a bear market — Doll has boosted portfolio returns, strengthened profit margins through ferocious cost-cutting and positioned MLIM to expand.
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