Goldman Sachs plans nearly $1 billion in bonuses after bailout

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Goldman Sachs plans nearly $1 billion in bonuses after bailout

Goldman Sachs is set to make the largest bonus payouts in the firm’s 140-year history, according to a report Monday.

In the fallout from the global financial crisis — which left Wall Street with just two major free-standing stock brokerages, Goldman had a record first quarter as revenues in the trading arena surged amidst lack of competition. Morgan Stanley is the only remaining large free-standing brokerage in New York.

The firm’s bonus plans leaked to The Guardian, a British newspaper. The paper said £600 million of its first quarter profits would be used to reward staff — or $984 million. Last year, Goldman “is believed to have paid 973 bankers $1m or more last year, while this year’s payouts are on track to be the highest for most of the bank’s 28,000 staff, including about 5,400 in London.”

New York’s premier brokerage received $5 billion in a government bailout last year. The firm repaid the sum last week.

Goldman has powerful allies in Washington — and perhaps the most powerful ally was Henry Paulson, President Bush’s Treasury Secretary and a former chief executive of the firm . Other Goldman CEOs have gone on to prominent positions in politics, including former Goldman CEO and current New York Governor Jon Corzine. (Paulson and Corzine are pictured above right in a 1999 photograph.)

via Raw Story » Goldman Sachs plans nearly $1 billion in bonuses after bailout.