Hubris Kills as Investment Banking Bonuses Doled Out

No, wait. Do NOT spray the champagne; these investment banking bonuses are, after all, for our work in 2011.

Goldman’s days of paying bonuses in stacks of $100,000 checks may be gone, but the hubris of Harvard’s type A, beauty queens will always stay. Yes, today is the day where grown men, some with all the educational accolades in the world, sulk in their seats at a sight of a relatively meager bonus.

Though, do Goldman’s bankers have a right to be so bummed? Below are three reasons why everyone should walk out of 200 West Street with a smile.

1) The GS bonuses received today will not be completely disclosed for a few more days to come, but as DealBook appropriately put it, “For any sad sacks at Goldman Sachs, it could be worse. They could be at Morgan Stanley.”

2) Moreover, after my report on 2011’s financial services layoffs, 2011 will be a year that a lot of us are willingly ready to forget. Most investment bankers or traders receiving any type of bonus should be happy for one reason- they still have a job.

3) Goldman has hinted that a sizeable portion of bonuses will be paid out in stock options. GS is flirting around 108 today. While the 3% pop on today’s trading will not make too many stock-option-paid employees happy, the stock is still at a trough from its 52-week high of 171.

So, go on, toast a bottle of the bubbly, because things could be far, far worse than receiving a bonus.

 
Best Response

Strikes me that for the average associate you would get a much better deal at MS than at GS. MS paid their bonuses at street, and differed all cash over 125k. For the average fist year at MS they got 120k cash and their friends at GS got about half that. Sure for second and third year associates at MS everything over 120 was differed, but almost none of the second and third year associates at GS even made it to that level.

 

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