Bonus & Compensation Watch: Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Compared

So you thought Wall Street's days of surreal compensation structures had become forgotten because of the bailouts and near collapse of all the majors last Fall.  Think again.  Today we had news that Morgan Stanley has set aside 72% of total revenues from the 2nd quarter for employee compensation.  And this in a Q where Morgan Stanley reported a net loss to shareholders of $1.3 billion, and a $159 million loss from continuing operations.

This 72% figure compares to a decade-long street average of 48% of revenues being set aside for pay, bonuses and benefits.  Bloomberg has a nice compensation breakdown comparing Morgan Stanley to Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.

First-Half Revenue, Compensation and Head Count from Bloomberg:

                   Revenue       Comp         Employees   Comp/Employee

Morgan Stanley     $8.36 bln     $5.91 bln    62,215      $95,009

Goldman Sachs      $23.2 bln     $11.4 bln    29,400      $386,429

JPMorgan           $15,7 bln     $6.01 bln    25,783      $232,983