Goldman Sachs CEO blasts excessive compensation

Posted Sep 9th 2009 3:20PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Management, Goldman Sachs Group (GS)

In the wake of widespread populist outcry over his company's ability to profiteer off of government bailout money, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein is joining the chorus of people lashing out over excessive bonuses.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Speaking at a banking conference in Frankfurt, Blankfein said that guaranteed multi-year contracts for bankers should be banned.

"Compensation continues to generate controversy and anger," Blankfein said, according to Bloomberg. "And, in many respects, much of it is understandable and appropriate. There is little justification for the payment of outsized discretionary compensation when a financial institution lost money for the year."

It seems strange for the CEO of a company that just set aside a record $11.4 billion for compensation in the first half of 2009 -- a recession -- to stand up and lash out at excessive compensation. It's especially strange given that he $68.5 million in 2007 as a reward for his company's participation in what would later turn out to be a bubble.

The real story here -- there's nothing groundbreaking about the comments themselves -- is why Blankfein decided to opine on this matter now. It looks like a pretty clear and well-orchestrated effort to make the company look less aloof and more aware of the serious problems in the financial industry. Blankfein is too smart to just fly off the handle and say something that will get headlines without any particular reason -- unlike a certain CEO of AIG.

The question is whether the company will follow Blankfein's words and actually take steps toward a compensation structure that is more aligned with shareholder value and less prone to create systemic risk.

Tags: Goldman Sachs, GoldmanSachs, GS, lloyd blankfein, LloydBlankfein

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-09-2009 @ 4:04PM

douglas mohrmann said...

Blankfien made 73 million in 2008

I guess if he took a pay cut to make Obama happy it would nt make much difference.

Now if somebody wants to make big money he is saying that is not OK.