Goldman’s most elite rank to get millions in special payouts

Goldman’s most elite rank to get millions in special payouts

Banking















Bloomberg

The top 1% at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is set to receive a special one-time reward in addition to annual bonuses, recognizing the Wall Street titan’s roaring success through the pandemic.

The unusual payments to partners — the roughly 400 executives who fill out the investment bank’s highest rung — will add millions of dollars to many compensation packages, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing internal decisions. That group already is in line for larger payouts that range from a few million dollars to multiples of that after a year of record earnings.

Goldman’s management, under pressure to fend off increasingly aggressive poaching on Wall Street, views the extra boosts as a creative solution that will come with a warning: Recipients shouldn’t mistake the bumps as part of a new pay floor, two of the people said. When compensation is set next year, managers will ignore the one-time payouts when making comparisons.

That lets Goldman leaders dip into the bank’s pot of riches from 2021 to reward its most-prized employees, while trying to temper expectations — and costs —