Clients of Goldman Sachs must at some point start wondering where all the money comes from – could it be us? – as CEO Lloyd Blankfein collects a $53.4 million Christmas present as his bonus for 2006. It is a record-breaker for a Wall Street bonus, eclipsing the $41 million collected by John Mack of Morgan Stanley last week.
Around half of the payment ($27.3 million) is being made in cash, while $15.7 million is in restricted stock options to buy Goldman Sachs stock. Blankfein, who became chairman and chief executive of the bank in June, is reported to earn a salary of $600,000. Goldman Sachs reported record profits for 2006 of $9.5 billion and its share price has risen by nearly 60 per cent in the last 12 months.