Goldman Chief Blankfein, Top Executives to Forgo 2008 Bonuses

Goldman Chief Blankfein, Top Executives to Forgo 2008 Bonuses


Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein and six senior executive officers will go without year-end bonuses, a spokesman for the firm said.

Blankfein, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar, Co- Presidents Jon Winkelried and Gary Cohn, and Vice Chairmen J. Michael Evans, Michael Sherwood and John S. Weinberg informed the compensation committee of the New York-based bank today that they would forgo the awards, according to Lucas van Praag, a company spokesman.

``They believe it's the right thing to do,'' van Praag said today in a telephone interview. ``We can't ignore the fact that we are part of an industry that's directly associated with the ongoing economic distress.''

Goldman last year paid record-setting bonuses to Blankfein, Cohn and Winkelried, awarding more than $65 million to each after the company reported the biggest profits in Wall Street history. The firm's revenue is down 32 percent so far this year and some analysts predict it may report a loss in the fourth quarter.

Goldman, which converted from the largest U.S. securities firm into a bank holding company in September, is one of nine U.S. banks that received a total of $125 billion under a government-funded rescue plan for the financial industry. U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, also a Democrat, have demanded that the companies provide information on pay plans for this year.

BLOOMBERG