Wall Street bonuses indicative

Long faces along Wall Street as the Christmas bonus did not arrive due to the bad investments still working their way through the markets. Not so for one lucky chap. The Wall Street Journal claims that Goldman Sachs Group chief executive Lloyd Blankfein has set a new record, receiving $US80 million in cash and stock including options. The 53-year-old also has a base salary of $US600,000 and donated an additional $US200,000 to charity.

Rivals Jack Mack, chief executive of Morgan Stanley, and James Cayne, CEO of Bear Stearns, did far worse after reporting larger than expected losses for the fourth quarter. Cayne is expected to take home just his base salary of $US250,000 and Mack his base of $US800,000. But at least they still have their jobs. Not so Merrill Lynch chief executive Stan O’Neal and Citibank chief executive Charles Prince who left earlier this year after accepting responsibility for multi-billion dollar writedowns from bad investments.