Broomhilde

Good Lord, my year end bonus better be decent. I know Wall St had a good year but Goldman just went nuts here:

Goldman CEO's $53.4M bonus breaks record

By VINNEE TONG, AP Business Writer 2 hours, 39 minutes ago

NEW YORK - John Mack's record for the biggest bonus ever paid to a Wall Street CEO didn't last even a week. It was smashed by the $53.4 million that Goldman Sachs gave its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein.

The bonanza for Blankfein included a cash bonus of $27.3 million, with the rest paid in stock and options. He took the helm of the investment bank in June after President Bush nominated Henry Paulson to be Treasury secretary.
The record payday, disclosed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, breaks the one set just last Thursday when Morgan Stanley disclosed that it paid CEO Mack $40 million in stock and options. Mack, who is 62, rejoined Morgan Stanley 18 months ago to turn around the company after the ouster of Philip Purcell. Mack's short-lived record bested one set in 2005 by Goldman's Paulson, who was given $38.3 million.

Other than Blankfein, 11 other senior Goldman executives as a group were granted slightly more than $150 million in shares and stock options. The highest paid among those were Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried, who both hold the titles of president and chief operating officer. They each received $25.6 million in shares and options in 2006.

Any cash bonuses for the other executives were not mentioned in the filings.
The bonuses come after Goldman reported last week that it had earned the highest yearly profit in the history of Wall Street. Net profit rose 70 percent to $9.4 billion on revenue of $37.67 billion. Goldman and other firms have benefitted from a surging market for takeovers and a strong stock market.
Goldman said last week it had set aside a total of $16.5 billion this year for salaries, bonuses and benefits. On average, this would translate to $622,000 per employee.

The bonuses come in a year in which Goldman shareholders have benefitted from a rise of about 58 percent in the company's share price, the strongest returns of any Wall Street investment house.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. have said they would pay about $12 billion in compensation each. Lehman said last week it paid its chief executive, Richard Fuld, $10.9 million in stock this year.

The trend in compensating executives has been to keep salaries level while increasing bonuses. The highest-paid executives in the country earned 48.2 percent more in bonuses and 31.2 percent more in cash, according to the Executive Compensation Index done by ERI Economic Research Institute and CareerJournal.com as of last month. It compared year-over-year numbers, and in the same period, salaries fell by 0.31 percent.

Shares of Goldman rose $2.11, or 1 percent, to $203.35 in mid-morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Alliance Priest~World of Warcraft

"Your a punkass Bitch. You know who you are. "

Faelar006

Must be nice for them. Unfortunately, according to Hewitt Associates, 66% of firms this year will not pay a Christmas bonus, up from 59% in 2005.

Not to mention that if profits happen to fall in 2007 for Goldman Sachs, the "average" employee there can expect to lose his or her job, while John Mack can expect to get let go with an insanely huge severance check.

Just another example of how the working stiff gets screwed. Merry friggin' Christmas.

Faelar

P.S. {edit} Sorry, forgot to add that during this time of record profits, wages in America have never been more stagnant than they are now. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Derrik

I thought Dateline reported that some of the Goldman Sachs fund managers or what have you got $100M in bonuses each, but who knows. That is some serious cake and I dont see how it could possibly be justified. I mean, it's not like these guys are working 40 hours per 50 weeks per.

Broomhilde

I'm a WallStreeter, and judging from the cost and location of our christmas party this year, my firm has done well in the last 12 months, so I'll get something. But in any comparison to other fields, whether service or industry, Wall St has oftimes proven to be terribly contrarian. Wall St can be doing fine, while the rest of the country goes to hell. Then they post bonus info like this as if to smear the fact in the working guy/gals face. Corporations can be sucessful while laying off 20% of their workforce, Investment banks continue to generate hugh revenues making big deals, while the retail customer's savings shrink, it goes on. It's truly a "Best of times, Worst of times", scenario.

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Alliance Priest~World of Warcraft

"Your a punkass Bitch. You know who you are. "

Derrik

Also many of the firms make money no matter which way the market goes (off the trades themselves), so I don't see how Wall Street can ever lose unless their hedgefunds fall apart or something crazy.

Faelar006

The fund managers probably split the $100 million. Not sure, I didn't see that Dateline. I have no doubt that those fund managers are working some serious hours, especially watching the overseas bond markets, etc., but it just seems damn miserly for them to justify these kinds of bonuses without having some of that trickle down to the employees (not of Goldman Sachs necessarily, but other companies who are seeing big profits but aren't increasing wages).

The middle class is being increasingly crapped on by the holders of capital and I wouldn't be surprised if, before too long, they are squeezed past their breaking point. When that happens, the strikes and riots of the early 20th century will look like a cakewalk.

Faelar

Derrik

/agree

They definitely work long hours and probably have some serious stress in their daily job routine. BUT, these guys dont work more than 30 weeks a year and I bet the perks at work ain't that bad (Gym, Pool, Massage, Free 5 Star grub, etc.). Bottom line, the whole rich get richer theme is alive and well.

Broomhilde

Fund managers work very hard and may have impossible hours at times. They are responsible for the success and profitability (or lack thereof) of the fund and may undergo tremendous stress due to this. But they also wield a tremendous amount of power. When ever a successful fund managers bails fund shares automatically go down, not that anything is any different, but because of the unforseeable future of the fund due to his or her absence. I do beleive they are compensated on profitability but I also think a line has to be drawn, same with these CEO's.

The thing about Wall St is that when it goes to hell, it has devastating effects around the country and world. But when the country and the world goes to hell, the effect on Walls St profits are oftimes not effected and in many cases actually increase.

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Alliance Priest~World of Warcraft

"Your a punkass Bitch. You know who you are. "

Usildor

Corporate america stinks of corruption. Period.

This is nothing new. Companies file bankruptcy when they're not bankrupt just to get courts to allow them to break union contracts that were built over 50+ years. Companies layoff thousands and hire overseas cheap labor. Companies fire thousands due to low revenues but then give CEO's millions of dollars in bonuses for doing a great job.

I work for a company where one year we had a strike with our union because all we wanted in a new contract was a normal cost of living increase and to keep our benefits the same. The company couldnt afford to do it but gave several CEO's triple digit million dollar bonuses. It's really very funny at times.

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Nurta

Try working for a non-profit organizaion or the government and then complain about bonuses or increases

I currently work (soon to hit 5yrs now) for a non-profit health system. I do not get bonuses, our executives do not get bonuses, no one does. Your raise if you are found worthy to have one is based on a merrit system with a 5% cap. It's a good solid system and no one person can break the scale, sure some people make more than others throughout the organization and we're now a billion dollar company but I'm glad I don't see numbers like this or I'd gag.

Our incentive for working here? I have a damn good healthcare plan :D And, paid time off is incredible! Plus the pay is better than most companies in the area save unless I wanted to drive to Maryland.

Somene please tell me why anyone needs to make 50some odd million from a bonus? I'm such a frigging tight-wad I doubt I could spend a million! I don't get it.

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