William Blair Bonuses 2024
Know they had a rough past few years. Curious to hear if anything has changed.
Title?
Base + Bonus?
Group/Bucket?
Are you satisfied?
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Bump
Bump. Looking for some MM comps. My MM doesn't communicate bonuses until early Feb
Being communicated electronically. Firm is supposed to have the second best year in history for investment banking. Folks are already planning on leaving before bonus even comes out lol, speaks to morale and confidence on junior comp.
Bump
People find out on the 24th
Nowhere to go but up i guess
Okay boys. Let it rip
AN1: 22.5k stub. Started in August. No bucket (I think)
What would that be annualized?
22.5k pro rated for the 5/12 months is 54k annualized. Assuming a 110k base, 164k as a first year is pretty good.
Did most An1 Mid bucket get 60-70
Is signing bonus still 20?
This firm is horrible.
Associate
Base: $175K
Bonus: ~$100K
Hours: 90 on average
What group?
Sounds like C&R
DELETE
Which office?
That is rough. So they went from $50k for associates in 2022, $25k in 2023, and $100k in 2024? I guess they're moving in the right direction but that's balls man. Glad I left at the top
Do you know what analyst pay was?
Is this top buck? Not ideal but it’s really not that bad compared to the likes of bofa or maybe some others. Like is $130-140 from JPM/MS that much better (top of street for Associate 1 this yr, look at the threads). That’s $15K post-tax difference…this is what the industry pays now unless you’re at an EB dog. Fifteen thousand dollars difference. Enough to basically pay rent, eat a couple meals at bond st, and buy your girlfriend a second hand designer bag from the real real…IB!!
VP2
Base: $275K
Bonus: $350K
Seems like VP comp was the same across the firm. Same nominal comp as 2019
How is there such a gap between associate 2 and VP? Crazy
There's a big ramp in base pay through ASO years. Bonus pick up is normal for that gap.
Do you mind me asking how this compares to your last year’s bonus? Doesn’t sound terrible relative to the rest of the sentiment. Maybe associates just got paid less relatively speaking.
Consumer analyst comp buckets:
Top 80k
Middle 65k
Bottom 50k
People not happy considering how sweaty this group is. Constant 90-100+ hour weeks, team is understaffed, and zero culture.
Can confirm people generally not happy seems like bonus pool was same across the firm. C&R folks seem very displeased given how sweaty and how the firm really promoted it as an amazing year internally
So did Tech get the same amount?
Confirming that this is analyst 2? Is base 120k? So total comp of around ~185k?
Do you know if tech is same?
Associate 3: 275k base, 500k bonus top bucket, eat what u kill
Is tech similar pay?
All coverage groups at Blair get the same bonus buckets
Confirming this is for analysts 2?
yea for analyst 2. first years got 22.5k flat, but we hit the desk in july
Got to love top MMs, value add between shops is minimal so everyone has to pitch like crazy and do a ton of extra bs on requests to appease clients.
Ok intern
Does this help bum 🤡. Now provide a real argument if you can.
The issue was not firm performance...second best year ever for the firm. The issue was that translating to comp.
I understand that. I was simply talking about how top MM people have to work very hard to create value add since M&A advisory between top MM firms are not greatly differentiated, leading to MDs doing everything under the sun to appease and maintain clients at the expense of an execution team's hours.
Associate 2
Base: 175K
Bonus: $135K
Pissed and was told if our firm beat budget we would pay above market bonuses and we blew out our budget then get paid below market…
Tough - how is culture there with wfh, analyst utilization etc
Horrible, associates are all way overstaffed because everyone else was laid off a few years ago or left after few years of bonuses
Well, $135k on $175k salary is above market. It's just that market and the industry sucks ass these days.
its crazy how bad pay is across the board these days in this industry. when i was an associate 2 back in the 2010s i was mid bucket and cleared $350k all in at a bulge. and we complained back then how small it was compared to the pre-GFC days. i see here that base is still the same at 175k and the bonus isn't even 1 to 1. crazy how firms have now normalized this crap pay judging by comments i see often now like "thats above market" or "not bad".
I saw another Assoc 2 at this same bonus level. Assuming it was RJ. So this seems reasonably in line with market. I'm the same level and hear mine early Feb.
Yes, but I have friends at RJ who don't work anywhere close to the amount of volume.
This is unfortunately “market” pay these days. Definitely get your frustration given it’s the 2nd best year the firm has ever had, which is a separate conversation.
Yeah a lot of the frustration is around being led on by management. They did brutal layoffs a couple years ago, we have been understaffed at the associate level, blew budget out of the water this year, but what does any of that translate to? When will we actually get paid well? Seems like never. 3rd year of being disappointed by management and honestly that is on me at this point for continuing to staying at a firm like this
Stub Associate
Base: 175K
Bonus: 27.5K
Doesn't really feel like 2nd best year ever per above comments...
Delete
Get off your high horse stub guy
Am I missing something? $80 top bucket is good…
Not when your prior year's bonus was $2.5K
I don’t want to ruffle any feathers here but isn’t $85,$60,$50 on a $110k base pretty solid….?
Yes lol, making 190k first year out of college is pretty solid most would say
im not sure where you get that number from lol. First year is taking home $150K, assuming an annualized bonus...
Seems like every other person here is reaching out to recruiters already, they really did not even try to keep people happy
Am I missing something or are these bonuses not that bad?
- BofA Associate
This is basically it. I keep hearing figures will be close to what they were last year at BofA..... We'll find out on Monday. Nothing like a Monday to hand bad bonuses. We'll see how much work gets done next week.
this is exactly what bofa was trying to do. give you such terrible bonuses that whatever is better than that makes you think you are getting good ones. these numbers are terrible. not even inflation adjusted they are nominally way worse than what people were getting paid pre-covid. its not like the work and hours have gotten better for associates since then.
I'm pretty dumbfounded. The bank beat its budget but decided to only pay market bonuses after 2+ years of paying poor bonuses and promising top-of-market payouts.
Does anyone have any insight? Are the Partners just that greedy, or has the cost basis increased so much that they need to clean house?
The excuses used to be that they overhired and guaranteed bonuses, but that’s all in the past now.
Anyone who stayed at Billy Blair is an idiot anyway, so why pay them?
Yep, common theme across the street this year. Firms had great years and are paying juniors a fraction of what they paid pre-Covid… not even taking inflation into account
Firm doesn’t have enough money. Severely over indexed to sponsor-related sell side M&A with 1. minimal presence in diversified products which can soften the blow when sponsor exits slow down (2023+) or 2. counter-cyclical teams like RX advisory.
Leads to high peaks and low valleys. Case study is how WB expanded the partner class tremendously at the peak of M&A just to de-partner many of those same folks when activity subsided.
Some of this can be solved if senior management has the desire. Wild card going forward feels like junior talent. I don’t know why talented Assocs / VPs would be excited about rising within the platform after not getting paid for 3 years while still getting worked.
Cost base of the firm is also high (real estate, excess middle office / corporate functions).
Guessing Partners also took a larger share this year after effectively not getting paid for two years. Need to retain top revenue generators.
Which office has the worst culture?
Atlanta without a doubt.
Can you elaborate on this? What about this office stands out?
Because the juniors or MDs suck?
Confused at why the worst office matters??
Wouldn’t a better question just be which offices have the best culture?
Why are you cucks creating separate bonus threads by bank - that is what the master thread is for
As someone who worked at EB / BB before joining William Blair, here are the real challenges at the senior analyst to senior associate level:
Compensation: Pay is slightly below market, typically $25K–$50K lower across all levels unless you're at the VP level or above. The most frustrating aspect isn't the pay differential but rather the fact that senior analysts / associates are expected to work significantly longer hours compared to peers at other MM firms. While the pay gap itself isn't my biggest concern, I'd be willing to take the cut if it came with a more predictable 70–80-hour workweek.
Culture: There's a culture of pushing the work down from VP and above, often leading to burnout on the junior level. I try to take care of analysts, but many of them are mentally drained and lack motivation. This dynamic forces me to play down. Silent quitting among deal teams compounds the problem, leaving you short-staffed and stretched thin on deliverables.
Responsibility and Hours: Associates here carry substantial execution responsibilities compared to peers at BB, EB, and other MM firms. There's also a lack of oversight from staffer.
These issues are just the tip of the iceberg and explain why there are so many associate openings at the firm. Honestly, anyone at Blair could transition to a BB or another MM with ease, given the volume of deals they’ve closed. If things don’t change, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a significant exodus in the coming year.
Do you think the associates being required to “play up” more helps the team do other things, or does it just allow VP/Ds to be lazy? From your description, I’m not exactly sure what the VPs are doing if the associates do all of this
VPs are also spread very thin. Therefore, they chase associates for work. Most directors here are impressive; many actually generate business. This is a good platform to learn and be a career banker. The junior folks aren't getting rewarded in proportion to what they do. Culture could be rough, depending on who you work with.
Can anyone comment on the NY groups?
Associate - $245K bonus
What year ASO/Group?
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