Wall Street Bonuses Up 14 Percent -- Credit Crisis?
NEW YORK (AP) -- This might have been one of Wall Street's most dismal years in a decade. But that hasn't stopped bonus checks from rising an average of 14 percent.
Four of the biggest U.S. investment banks will pay out more than $49 billion in compensation this year. Those banks are Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Incorporated and Bear Stearns Companies.
Bonuses are traditionally estimated to represent 60 percent of the compensation total -- or almost $30 billion this year.
That might not sit well with investors who held on to investment bank stocks this year -- and watched them plunge by up to 45 percent. Investment houses have been slammed by the credit crisis, and top executives said this week they've yet to see a bottom.
Some of those executives have agreed to forgo their bonuses this year.
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