Goldman Sachs Execs Turn Down Bonuses

My question is, why were these executives ever slated to receive bonuses? I mean, Goldman Sachs shares have lost 70% of their value and the company had to go begging to the U.S. government for a bailout. Maybe I used to work at the wrong companies but, back in my corporate days, a bad year meant no bonuses. For anyone.

Don’t worry about how Blankfein will get by without his yearly bonus. Last year he pulled in a $68 million bonus.

One Response to “Goldman Sachs Execs Turn Down Bonuses”

No doubt his employment agreement has a formula for “annual bonuses” which are really no such thing. Actually, they are just another part of his regular pay — except for coming in a lump sum, rather than monthly bi-weekly. Likely you would have to to go back a couple of years to find the statement in the Board minutes (if they are available) where they set up the “bonus” program for the senior executives. But I’d bet that performance of the stock price is not one of the major variables in the formula.

Of course these guys don’t need the money. For anybody making more than $1 million a year, the only relevance of their compensation is scoring status points with others in the same situation. It’s not like they can spend that much, after all.

Reported by Musings of a Donklephant.