November 11, 2007 -- While most top dogs at big Wall Street firms could see their bonuses shrink by 20 percent or more this year, Goldman Sachs honcho Lloyd Blankfein stands to collect a jackpot of at least $75 million in cash and stock, according to sources inside the firm. Blankfein's giant pay package, which would be about $20 million more than he got last year, comes as Goldman seems to have weathered the credit storm that rocked rivals Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns. Goldman's bonuses were calculated last month at the height of the subprime mortgage meltdown but traders and bankers won't get any word on their annual perks until mid-December, insiders said. Goldman's co-presidents Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelreid could also see their bonuses top $70 million each, sources said. They both got about $50 million last year. Despite steep losses at several of Goldman's in-house hedge funds, the firm will likely still manage to post a 25 percent profit gain this year and has yet to take the giant write-downs that have plagued rival firms. As of Friday, Goldman shares were up about 6 percent for the year, compared with other Wall Street firms, which are nearly all down over 30 percent. "At a time when some of its competitors look to lay off employees, find and punish the managers responsible for mishaps, and retreat from risk-taking gone bad, Goldman continues to look for the next opportunity to effectively allocate its capital," Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Mayo said in a report last month. In late June, Blankfein correctly predicted the current problems in the credit markets. "We are in a high state of nervousness," he said at a June 27 conference sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. "We certainly are organizing ourselves like the market is undervaluing risk." He then pinpointed the cause for all his skittishness. "The biggest risk we face would be a very big crisis in the credit markets," Blankfein said. A "sentiment shift," "could unravel very quickly" the vast wealth that has been created by the boom. http://www.nypost.com/seven/11112007/business/goldman_ceo_in_line_for_75m_bonus_460668.htm There is a new bonus dimension been born called "BLANKFEIN-ism BONUS"
That's too little given this guy's talent. He should get the biggest bonus of all CEOs due to his ability to keep GS out of the subprime mess. 0.25% of market cap would be 224 million. That would be fair. It's risen 20% so far this year.
LOL I really hope GS doesn't report after bonuses are paid out that they're taking huge subprime losses. The streets would be in uproar.
I think that's the plan. They lots of subprime just like the rest, it's just that they decided to value it differently.
They are net short subprime. Everyone else's misery is their gain. They are two sides to every trade, and GS is on the right side, as usual. This is why I love free markets, idiots are punished and those who make the right decisions are greatly rewarded so they can continue making the right economic calls. The right call for traders is to long GS.
You mean the same Goldman Sachs who managed to take $350 million subprime loss in a week early this year? Well they did manage to escape the losses, on paper, with a balance sheet methodology that leaves people scratching their heads. That is if those people did not use common sense and wonder who in the world would take the other side of shorting subprime in the last 6 months. But hey, I do agree with you on one thing. Goldman will walk away a net winner from this. However, the funniest part about it that you actually think this free markets at work. That's a HUGE LOL.