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"
------------
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.

[cbsblogger]

They should have to give back their bonuses for the last several years as they were obviously a smoke screen based upon either falsified or overly optimistic results. The companies weren''t earning what they said they were earning.

[telluright]

Why don''t they make the chief executives that have been in that position for the past 2-3 years pay some of their bonuses back if not all of it. That would be a stipulation to get the bailout money if it were up to me. If all that time they were loosing money why should have have earned 600,000 in salary and millions in stocks and bonuses. Just how much money do you need to live off of? Try living off what the average american lives off everyday.

[erasmus81]

So why do the executives have to publish this information? This should be automatic and without comment. Integrity....don''''t leave home without it.

Posted by barbaraf4 at 07:28 PM : Nov 17, 2008

They are probably hoping that others will follow their example.

[barbaraf4]

So why do the executives have to publish this information? This should be automatic and without comment. Integrity....don''t leave home without it.

[steamed2]

Oh. Brother, a few over-paid CEO''s finally start to worry that the U.S.taxpayer may finally wake up to what the financial lobbies have been doing the past 10-15 years, and they''re hero''s? Let them apply for sainthood.
The real problem is that every sitting member of the House and Senate who has been in office for the last ten years has totally abdicated his responsibilities to taxpayers. Its clear that Congress has knowingly misled us and assisted in the malfeasance ongoing in the financial sector of America today. If you would like some interesting info, and how to do so too, check out http://www.peak.org/~LW584

[lloydbest1]

"...He made $56 million in bonus last year. Does anyone mention that more than $45 million of that was given to charities and he''''s a lead donor for inner city schools all throughout the country?"
Posted by LanceArmStng at 05:25 PM : Nov 17, 2008

Sorry, that doesn''t cut it.
There is NO defense for that kind of income. I do not care how he got it nor do I care what he did with it. I could give a rat''s rear end how much he "deserved" it and it is irrelevant to me how may lives he''s improved with his "charity". Note, please, he still had nearly $11 million left over. So any platitudes he recieves because he distrubited SOME of that wealth are totally without merit as far as I am concerned. Why didn''t he donate all of his bonus to charity? Why, in fact, did he not, additionally, donate half of his enormous base salary to causes that benefit the public interest?
I do not mean to rag on anyone and I also do not believe Mr. Blankfein should be paid at the same level you and I are. He DOES derserve more. But $600000 Plus a $54 million bonus? C''mon - no way in h&ll!

[lochlan-2009]

"Oh, and be careful, if the public keeps pushing for these big firms to pay back and give up all their revenue we''''re going to see these companies move mighty fast overseas."

Don''t worry, we can tax them going out the door (or seize their assets), and tax them for every product they bring into this country made on foreign soil, too.

[lochlan-2009]

He made $56 million in bonus last year. Does anyone mention that more than $45 million of that was given to charities and he''''s a lead donor for inner city schools all throughout the country?

What a scumbag.


Posted by LanceArmStng


Only kept eleven million of his bonus for the year, eh? What a saint. With these people it''s all about more money, who cares how. Did he get tax right-offs, or was it something else? You know these people don''t do anything for nothing.

[lancearmstng]

"CEO''''S and the OIL INDUSTRIES should pool together and pay every AMERICAN tax payer $5000 for stealing money from us over the past few years "

Oh, and be careful, if the public keeps pushing for these big firms to pay back and give up all their revenue we''re going to see these companies move mighty fast overseas. If you think Exxon wouldn''t happily domicile themselves in Mexico or in Grand Cayman and operate as a foreign entity then you are just plain silly.

Countries would gladly take the taxes, however minimal they are, from firms like Exxon and Exxon would be just fine not being crucified by a public that was built by capitalism but now has been swallowed by irresponsible credit-card toting socialists.

First the conglomerates (that provide domestic jobs) and then the affluent who pay the majority of taxes to begin with will move overseas. It''ll be the United States of poor people. No one left to blame.

[bobnjersey]

[If we don''''t do that NOW then civilization will decompose along side the already dead financial corpse.]
[Posted by whitemale08 at 04:15 PM : Nov 17, 2008]

if you were reading a quarterly summary on the financial industry ... and it was written like they write all their summaries ... it would say something like:

''despite the difficult conditions being experienced under the current downturn ... we expect a more positive outlook in the coming period ... which is likely to translate into positive returns in the future''