Goldman Sachs (GS) Bonus Payout Will Be $19 Billion

Pressure from the federal government and taxpayers did nothing to bend the will of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) It will pay out $19 billion in bonuses to its employments which means that executives and senior bankers will make tens of millions of dollars each.

According to the Observer, the firm’s net income will be $45 billion for the firm’s fiscal 2009 which ended on November 30.

The paper reports that “Goldman’s three leading executives, chairman Lloyd Blankfein, president Gary Cohn and chief financial officer David Viniar, will receive multi-million dollar payouts after forgoing their bonuses last year when the bank made a loss in the fourth quarter.”

The battle with officials in London and Washington is not over. When the Goldman numbers are final there will almost certainly be an attempt to tax the money or at the very least cap it next year.

Douglas A. McIntyre