Goldman Execs Stay Fat And Happy On Huge Bonuses Despite Down Year For Profits

The Daily Beast

The investment bank had a lousy third quarter, but employees will still take home billions in bonuses.  Goldman Sachs earning reports provides a valuable lesson on how things really work inside Wall Street’s largest investment houses. Goldman Sachs had an awful three months, losing $428 million in the third quarter of 2011, and yet it continued to shovel billions into the bonus pool it will share with its employees at year’s end.

Through the first nine months of 2011, Goldman set aside $10 billion in its compensation fund. If Goldman’s 30,000 employees split that bounty evenly, that would work out to $333,000 per person—plus the billions more Goldman will no doubt set aside in the last few months of the year.

That $10 billion lags last year’s bonus pool—by 24 percent. But then the company’s profits per share through the first nine months of the year were down more than 70 percent compared with 2010—and Goldman's stock since the start of the year has fallen by 43 percent.

But that’s the beauty of working at a major investment bank. Performance doesn’t matter nearly as much as just showing up.

But that’s the beauty of working at a major investment bank. Performance doesn’t matter nearly as much as just showing up. Goldman booked $13 billion in pre-tax profits in 2010—a steep drop from the $20 billion the bank booked in 2009. Despite a precipitous drop in profits between 2009 and 2010 and a stock stuck in neutral throughout the year, the Goldman board of directors raised Blankfein’s base salary to $2 million, up from $600,000, and showered an extra  $13 million in stock grants on Blankfein and his executive team.

Comments

[Angry Jones]

Don't give them such a hard time - it's more money they can spend to help save our economy and create jobs stupid.

[mikael]

The cost of canibalism, is bigger corps(monopolys in fact), and as the Corp grows, the CDOs and others get buonuses.
All realitve to sice of course. That move, to just swallow the minor/comp is canibalism, and in reality creates nothing, exept a "bigger" corp.
And all this insane bonuses in the finnance world(aka: the wall street) is based on the same prinipes, a "handling fee" on every fu.. transaction, done during a day, the bigger the trans, the bigger is the "fee", and thas someting they(WS) puts strait into their own pockets, as a "jobbsalary".
Thats the name of the game, all this is novere near Capitalism, its just plain oldfasioned Greed, and the bill is sendt to Us.

This is the background of the Notion of, Parasites.
They are just Parasites, and right now they are killing the Body(aka.Us).

[Juanito]

Amazing when you consider that they are in fact sitting on huge losses in derivatives that are well into the tens of trillions!!!

All facilitated by the Fed and the politicians in Washington.

[Cheyenne]

Only slightly off topic, but this interview of William Black, the prosecutor who put 1100 executives behind bars for the S&L crisis in the late 1980s, is just about the best explanation of criminal banking fraud I've ever read.

http://www.financialsense.com/financial-sense-newshour/guest-expert/2011/09/14/william-k-black-phd/why-nobody-went-to-jail-during-the-credit-crisis

[S. Gompers]

Oh the rewards of poor performance...

[George Forfa]

They are being compensated for their roles in the Wealth Transfer System. It's hard work to keep a Ponzi scheme going. It requires the best education and indoctrination that fiat paper can buy. There is a plan and it doesn't include 90 % of humanity.

http://georgesblogforum.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/photo-finish/

[john]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20111021/POLITICS/111029978

[Jack Lohman]

Hey Angry, how are you liking it so far!

[John Mack]

Why do you call Goldman Sachs an investment bank? It is not for the following reasons:

1. It makes its money from speculative trading, not from raising capital to be invested in operating businesses (as real investment banks do).

2. It was re-chartered as a commercial bank so it could "borrow" limitless amounts of money from the Fed at 0% interest, leaving a good chunk of that money "on deposit" at the Fed in order to collect a high interest rate. Of course it uses the rest of the money to buy foreign bonds and to gamble in the form of speculative trading. ... At any rate, it is legally a commercial bank, even though re-chartering it as a commercial bank was a legal outrage.

[Inurface]

Angry, are you a total or half tard.

[John Mack]

Don't misjudge Angry. He's being sarcastic.

[Rusty Shaver]

Angry Jones? More like Retarded Jones....

[Ghost of Angry Jones]

No one s ACTUALLY DOING anything about this. Nor will anyone in the GOP debate-o-rama. Gather your pitchforks...

http://goanimate.com/movie/0wqZUA0fbsOo?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0lckOB5fP_2k

[Texas Dar]

Don't misjudge Angry. He's being sarcastic.

I agree, I get the same way from time to time. Calm down people. We all Vent in differant ways......If he was Angery, we'ed know it...........?

[john]

Dar, it's a little too quiet now. You know when kids get quiet something is up. Watch out if they are twins (one always keeps lookout while the other performs the mischief). ; )

[john]

Cheyenne, If you were using speakerphone, tell everyone that may have heard the conversation that it was was the mayor of Chicago....

[chiller]

The time has come for people of the world to retake their countries from their manipulated and corrupt leaders. While doing so please remember this: "There's nothing to lose by doing a lot, but a lot to lose by doing nothing."

[DailyBail]

Angry Jones was being sarcastic. I know her. She is too subtle sometimes.

[rich]

bloomberg reports on oct 18 bank of america put 79 TRILLION dollars of derivitives onto fdic accounts no regulaters needed hello taxpayer now jp morgan donated 75 TRILLION dollars to the fdic so if europe or any of their bets fail the us tax payer is now lible hello suckers privatize profits socialize loses this happened 1 week ago not one republican not 1 democrat not1 conservetive talk show not 1 liberal talk show or news org is on our side they have along with global companys sod thi sgreat nation with no consciense down the river even geitner called this financial armaggedon look this up please these people dont deserve to call themselves americans

[Texas Dar]

Well I'ed like it if she would pop in here from time to time........It keeps us good ol boys on our toes.........!

[Texas Dar]

I just posted this here...................http://dailybail.com/home/obama-to-unveil-mortgage-refinance-plan-targeting-underwater.html?lastPage=true#comment15454440


Maby im just the last one to find this out, or did I trip on the next big stab in the back to the American People..........?

Fed lets Bank of America insure
multi-trillion dollar derivative (gambling) loss
with FDIC insurance

Beginning of the end
http://www.realecontv.com/videos/central-banks/fed-lets-bank-of-america-insure-multi-trillion-dollar-derivative-gambling-loss-with-fdic-insurance.html
Oct 25, 2011 at 11:46 AM | Texas Dar

Something big is going down...?

[rich]

where does the president stand on this call your representatives goad them into talking about this publicly make infomative signs for occupy to tell the truth we are systematically being split up dems repubs independents are all on the same side of this if given the information we are americans and this is unetical teach the truth ask all to google bloomberg bank of america $79 trillion thank you all

[Cheyenne]

Speaking of back-stabbing, Dar, my buddy Sergio plays a song explaining how he handles such treachery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjy9hJb-CDk

The song is workplace safe up until the 1:50 mark.

[Texas Dar]

Dam Democrats are at it again..............................! "KILL SARAH PALIN"

ACTOR ORLANDO JONES TWEETS: ‘IF AMERICAN LIBERALS WANT RESPECT…KILL SARAH PALIN’

http://www.westernjournalism.com/actor-orlando-jones-tweets-%E2%80%98if-american-liberals-want-respect%E2%80%A6kill-sarah-palin%E2%80%99/