Goldman Chief Blankfein Took 4% Pay Cut for 2016--Update
18 March 2017 - 5:54AM
Dow Jones News
By Liz Hoffman
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s board cut Chief Executive Lloyd
Blankfein's pay by 4% and tied more of it to how the bank does for
its investors, a sign that even the powerful and profitable Wall
Street firm isn't immune from investor pressure.
Mr. Blankfein received $22 million in total pay for 2016,
according to a regulatory filing Friday. His cash bonus fell to $4
million from $6.3 million last year, while his salary remained the
same at $2 million.
The Goldman CEO, who took the role more than a decade ago, joins
Citigroup Inc.'s Michael Corbat as the only CEO of a big Wall
Street firm to get a pay cut for 2016. Bank of America Corp.'s
Brian Moynihan, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s James Dimon and
Morgan Stanley's James Gorman all got raises. Mr. Gorman, whose
firm is a fierce rival of Goldman, outearned Mr. Blankfein for the
first time since he became Morgan Stanley CEO in 2010.
Goldman also tied more of Mr. Blankfein's pay to the bank's
performance. All $16 million of his stock-based bonus is in the
form of units that are awarded based on Goldman's returns over the
next few years. In 2014 and 2015, only half of Mr. Blankfein's
bonus hinged on future returns in this way. Before that, none did,
though any stock-based bonus gets more valuable if the share price
rises.
The changes come after just 66% of shareholders approved the
bank's pay plan last year, an unusual rebuke. Goldman's directors
"viewed this outcome as an indication that further engagement was
needed" and spent the fall getting feedback from investors.
Shareholders, who generally like to see executives' fortunes
tied to their own, also had pushed in the years following the
financial crisis for banks to de-emphasize cash bonuses in favor of
awards paid in company shares.
In another nod to shareholders, Goldman based its bonuses for
2016 on returns that will be judged relative to its banking peers,
not on an absolute basis. That may actually bring higher payouts in
the short term; Goldman has posted better returns on equity than
most rivals in recent years, but has repeatedly fallen short of the
11% absolute figure needed for Mr. Blankfein and other top
executives to receive their maximum bonus.
Goldman's revenue fell 9% in 2016, dragged down by a slow first
half of the year. Many other top Goldman executives had pay cuts of
around 5%, according to filings released in January.
Harvey Schwartz, who was recently promoted from chief financial
officer to co-chief operating officer, was paid $20 million in
2016, down from $21 from a year earlier. Pay at the top of Goldman
tends to be flatter than at some other big banks, with Mr.
Blankfein's top deputies making almost as much as the CEO.
Write to Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 17, 2017 14:39 ET (18:39 GMT)
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