Top Goldman Execs Refuse Year-End Bonuses

Struggling Investment Bank's Leaders Say "It's The Right Thing To Do"

(AP)  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein and six other top executives at the bank will not be receiving cash or stock bonuses for 2008, a spokesman said Sunday.

The decision was made by the seven executives themselves, said spokesman Lucas Van Praag, and approved Sunday by the Wall Street firm's compensation committee. The executives made the decision "because they think it's the right thing to do," Van Praag said.

The seven executives include Blankfein; Presidents and Co-Chief Operating Officers Jon Winkelried and Gary Cohn; Vice Chairmen John Weinberg, J. Michael Evans and Michael Sherwood; and Chief Financial Officer David Viniar.

They will receive no cash bonuses, no stock, and no options for 2008 - just their salaries, the spokesman said. Companies typically release compensation figures for top executives in the spring as part of their annual proxy statements.

Last year, Blankfein received total compensation of $54.0 million, according to calculations by The Associated Press - making him the 6th highest paid CEO at a Standard & Poor's 500 company in 2007. His salary that year was $600,000.

Goldman and Morgan Stanley were the only major U.S. investment banks left standing after the buyout of Bear Stearns Cos. by JPMorgan Chase & Co., the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s sale to Bank of America Corp.

Shortly after Lehman's collapse, Goldman and Morgan Stanley became bank holding companies - a move that subjects them to more oversight from the Federal Reserve, but that also gives them permanent and wider access to the central bank's lending programs.

Goldman's shares closed Friday at $66.73, down $3.26, and are down 69 percent since the start of the year. The firm is in the midst of cutting about 3,200 employees, or about 10 percent, of its staff worldwide.

[bobnjersey]

[Last year his salary was $600K, but his total compensation was $54 million ? I am hard pressed to think of another job category where your annual bonus is ninety times your base salary. I suggest it is long past the time where the U.S. regulates senior executive salaries, like the Japanese apparently do. Maximum salary is 100 times the lowest paid employee.]
[Posted by farmerbb at 02:40 AM : Nov 18, 2008]

i don''t have all the numbers for 2007 or 2008 ... but in 2006 he made $53.4 million ... but this was against ''net earnings'' of $9.5 billion.

not to say he''s responsible for all the net earnings ... but if you look at his bio and professional history ... he''s a driven guy who makes thinks happen. if you could hire someone to produce $9.5 billion in net earnings for your company ... would you see $53 million as a lot to pay for producing that $9.5 billion?

it''s like advertising. the ad campaign might cost $2 million ... and if it doesn''t produce any more sales it was a waste of money ... maybe you''d even call it a scam. but if it produced $100 million in new sales ... it was money well spent.

[oneworldusa]

Think they will ''do the right thing'' and re-allocate those bonuses to the employees who have lost or are losing their jobs and to the taxpayers to repay the bailout? I would find it highly doubtful.

[perk235]

"....will not be receiving cash or stock bonuses for 2008"
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If it''s not cash or stock, I wonder what kind it is? Land, cars, houses.....?

I find the qualification of what kind of bonuses they won''t receive as a red flag. Even if these people don''t know how to run a financial institution, we know they can look after #1.

[ctla567]

That crook all of a sudden wants to play a great guy''s role. He along with the rest of their executives should return all their salaries, bonuses and options they got over the last several years back to the company and tax payers. Then put them in jail and throw away the keys.

[farmerbb]

Last year his salary was $600K, but his total compensation was $54 million ? I am hard pressed to think of another job category where your annual bonus is ninety times your base salary. I suggest it is long past the time where the U.S. regulates senior executive salaries, like the Japanese apparently do. Maximum salary is 100 times the lowest paid employee.

[whitemale08]

Why aren''t these crooks in jail?

These are SCAM-ARTISTS not Execs and CEOs.

All of this ''structured-finance'' garbage was just krap, plain and simple.

And to think that people wer actually getting paid and paid well with BIG BONUSES for rolling piles of dog krap is ridiculous.

This Derivatives made-up garbage has to be shut-down and flushed down the toilet for what it is, just worthless krap (not illiquid assets)

All of this garbage has to be thrown out under bankruptcy proceedings of the entire privately held Federal Reserve System and it has to happen NOW!!!!

[jerr11]

Very admirable.

That''s what Dracula said after he killed his victim. He''s not going to suck any more blood from her.

It''s the right thing to do.

[mikezembill]

I am sure that everone would give a couple of weeks pay to help out .

[roachcrusher]

The executives made the decision "because they think it''s the right thing to do," Van Praag said.

Yeah, right!!! A mob of citizens would a'' been looking for the nearest oak to stretch their neck muscles. Pain is a great conscience. "The right thing to do" had nothing to do with it.

[cbsblogger]

These elite bxstards of Wall Street get hundreds of billions for corruption and dishonesty while average American workers at GM and Ford and Chrysler get fired.