Merrill Lynch gave top earners $209 Million in 2008

[katty]

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/merrill-lynch-gave-top-ea_n_171816.html

Huffington Post | Katharine Zaleski | March 4, 2009 12:19 PM

Nothing seems shocking these days when it comes to bailed out banks. We learned after the Super Bowl that Bank of America had spent millions on a carnival and other perks during the event, that former Merrill CEO John Thain had doled out over a million dollars to redecorate his office and that AIG was sending its executives to a spa.

Today's Wall Street Journal article on the $209 million given to Merrill Lynch's top ten earners in 2008 takes the cake. The revelation is causing more problems for the company. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that,

"Bank of America is expected to file a motion on Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court to keep the compensation data from becoming public.

[seafan]

1. Here are the pigs.

Merrill’s Merry Men Raked In $209 Million in 2008

By: Jessica Pressler
3/4/09

No wonder former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain thought he deserved a $10 million bonus last year, despite the fact that the firm lost $27.6 billion. Everyone else was getting one! The Wall Street Journal got restless waiting for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's subpoena for details about who at the firm received bonuses last year to come through, and dug through the records themselves to come up with a handful of names.

Thomas Montag: $39.4 million pay package and Merrill stock awards valued at approximately $50 million.

Andrea Orcel: $33.8 million in 2008. (Awesomely, in 2007 he received a $12 million bonus for advising Royal Bank of Scotland, which worked out well for them.)

Fares Noujaim: $15 million.

Peter Kraus: $29.4 million (For three months of work, remember!)

David Gu: $18.7 million.

David Goodman: $16.5 million.

David Sobotka: About $13 million.


The Journal's total comes to $209 million in cash and stock, which is all the more amazing for the fact that it's up from the $201 million the company shelled out to their top ten execs in 2007.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123612736445024231.html#mod=testMod">Merrill's $10 Million Men (WSJ)

Vicious greed in the face of national distress.

[katty]

2. it's always a 'win-win' with corporate welfare