Who is able to stop these toxic and destructive creatures?
Geschrieben von hkarner - 15. April 2012
Date: 15-04-2012
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Subject: Blankfein’s Pay: $12 Million
Goldman CEO Got $3 Million Cash Bonus in 2011; Salary Tripled From 2010
NEW YORK—Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein’s total compensation for 2011 fell 35.5% to $12 million as the securities firm had its least-profitable year since the depths of the financial crisis.
Lloyd Blankfein’s total compensation was down 35.5% from 2010.
But under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s reporting requirements, Mr. Blankfein received total compensation in the year valued at $16.2 million, up 14.5% from 2010.
In its proxy statement filed with the SEC on Friday, Goldman said Mr. Blankfein—by the SEC’s pay guidelines—was awarded a $3 million cash bonus and $10.7 million in stock awards as well as $2 million in salary. The salary was triple that of the prior year.
In 2011, Goldman boosted the base salaries for Mr. Blankfein and other top executives for the first time since the company went public in 1999, bumping the CEO’s salary up from $600,000 in prior years.
Among other individual disclosures, Goldman awarded Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn $15.8 million, up 14% from a year ago, per SEC guidelines. Chief Financial Officer David Viniar’s compensation rose 13.3% to $15.8 million, while the company’s two vice chairmen, J. Michael Evans and John Weinberg, received $15.7 million and $15.8 million, respectively.
The compensation disclosures came after a challenging year for Goldman and Wall Street in general. Goldman has been cutting jobs and reining in expenses as deal activity wanes and trading generates lower revenue than prior years amid a continuing European sovereign-debt crisis and a slowing economic recovery.
Goldman struggled to make money off its traditionally strong fixed-income trading business as market turmoil and new regulations retarded client demand.
Net income at the company fell 47% to $4.4 billion, while revenue plunged 26% to $28.8 billion. Shares of Goldman Sachs sank 46% last year, amid broader weakness among bank stocks, though it has since climbed 28% year-to-date.
Mr. Blankfein and the company also continue to battle negative publicity. On March 14, a 33-year-old vice president based in Goldman’s London operations quit and published his reasons for doing so in an op-ed article in The New York Times. The former employee, Greg Smith, faulted Goldman for its “toxic and destructive” culture in which he claimed client interests weren’t put first.
Goldman executives told employees that Mr. Smith’s opinions don’t reflect the company’s values. Goldman also began interviewing Mr. Smith’s coworkers and immediate supervisors to determine whether there were any specific incidents that led to his resignation and scoured company emails for the derogatory comments that Mr. Smith alleged Goldman employees used to refer to clients.
