Goldman Sachs (GS) board of directors has rejected demands from shareholders that the Wall Street’s dominant bank investigate recent compensation practices following allegations that it overpaid employees last year.
The NY-based firm said in a filing Monday that shareholder lawsuits filed recently in New York and Delaware charge that Goldman’s “excessive compensation” packages made in Fy2009 were too high. Goldman did not name the shareholders who made the demands but reported that they had requested investigations into executive compensation, and asked the firm to recoup excess pay and reform pay practices.
Goldman, which reported a record profit in 2009, continues to be criticized for paying $16.2 billion in bonuses — each of the bank’s 31,700 employees made an average of more than $500,000 in ’09 — soon after the taxpayer bailout of the banking industry. Truth be told ; while $16+ billion is an eye popping figure – that amounts to just 36% of the firm’s total revenues, down from 48% in 2008.
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