Catgirl

Bailed-out bank pays £1.6bn bonuses
City workers at a firm that benefited from the US bank bail-out are still to share in a multibillion-pound bonus pot, it has been confirmed.
Goldman Sachs revealed the figure, worth about £55,000 per employee, as it posted its first quarterly loss since becoming a public company in 1999.
A spokesman said the bonus pot, which will not be shared by the chief executive and six senior colleagues who have agreed to give up their perk, totalled £1.67 billion.
The US-based firm, which switched from being an investment bank to a bank holding company in September, lost £1.36 billion in the final quarter of this year.
A spokesman rejected reports that the bonuses could amount to as much as £4.3 billion - or £142,000 for each worker, including the 5,000-plus employed in London.
Salaries and benefits, including bonuses, were paid out of earnings, not capital, he added.
The firm defended the practice of paying out such bonuses, arguing it helped it to "attract and motivate" the best people.
The spokesman said: "We do think the bonuses are justified. Please bear in mind that the firm was profitable for the year. We have one of, if not the lowest compensation ratios in the industry and when the firm does well, our people do well, and the converse is also true."
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2008, All Rights Reserved.

TimFountain

Pigs at the trough. Amazing, and still they get away with it.

Meanwhile, back in the real world we were told today that there would be no pay raises next year, no company bonus, all hiring including attrition is frozen, and travel will be all but non-existant. And I am in an F500 company that is profitable, has money in the bank and pays its bills on time.

Tarkak9

speaking of bailouts...

Chrysler just announced it is shutting down all production at 30 U.S. plants 'till atleast Jan 19 starting this Friday....

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/17/auto...ion=2008121717

political move if you ask me.

SpoogleDrummer

If I were told I definately wasn't getting a payraise next year I'd be looking elsewhere for employment and doing less work and I consider myself to be fairly loyal so it makes sense to still offer incentives to staff as they need their loyalty to help them out.

scrubbedexpat091

The north American makers generally shut down for 2 weeks every year around this time of year, they just extended it 2 weeks this year.